Prof. A.N.Sadhu
Change is a continuous process, change is an evolutionary process and change is an essential process. Stagnation leads to stinking and change brings in freshness. But when this change brings in the freshness of confusion and complexity, it becomes mind boggling. Confusion blurs the understanding and complexity stalls the resolution. The State of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed many a turns and twists during the last 70 years, in general, and during the last five years in particular. The State has come a long way, experimenting with varied models of finding a permanent resolution to the vexed problem. Unfortunately all the investments of political wisdom and strategist analysis have not yielded the desired returns. Situations after every change have turned to be trivial inhibiting any headway towards a lasting solution. The situation attained an added dimension of violence during the last 30 years, resulting into wide scale of death and distruction, on one side, and the exodus of entire peace loving community of Kashmiri Pandits, on the other. The situation became more baffling for the analysts and more worrisome for the country acting as a peace messenger to the entire world. Obviously, something somewhere has gone wrong. Volumes have been written on its past and varied explanations given on how the things went wrong in the past. One may agree or may not agree, mistakes have been committed. But should we be the prisoners of the past? Shall we not manage our present and think of the future without confusions, complexities and turbulence.
Power and politics do not solve the complex problems but a policy does. What has been witnessed in the recent past is almost a policy bankruptcy so far as the State of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned. But to put the entire blame on the present regime will not be fair. Kashmir has come to it as a legacy of the past. But then this party has had enough of time to understand the weaknesses of the approach adopted by the earlier regimes and it was a fair expectation of the masses, who gave it a massive mandate, to witness a thoughtful change in the run-of-the will approach, which could bring about a new and workable mechanism to resolve the issue. That it has not happened reveals not only the policy bankruptcy but the bankruptcy of political wisdom as well. Aiming at the convergence of North and South poles will not go down in the history only as a failed experiment but also as an act of political immaturity where power and politics were given, precedence over policy.
With the collapse of PDP-BJP Government, new turns and twists have taken place in the State smacking of opportunism rather than ensuring political stability in the State. That a two member party also got boldened to stake a claim to the formation of the Government, reportedly at the promptings of New Delhi, is a sad commentary on the political thinking of the country. The State Assembly was dissolved all of a sudden even when a categoric statement was made a few days earlier that this will not be done. Such a dramatic political development has raised many a question. The Governor’s explanation that this was done to stall unethical political manoeuverings should be welcome but it was only for this reason, does not appear fully convincing to the people. Who will gain from this turn of events, only time will tell.
Political analysts will revisit the experiment of PDP-BJP alliance and may conclude that this twist of political process for a sensitive state was not the right thing to do for various reasons. An equally unwise alliance was thought of among the three mainstream political parties of NC, PDP and Congress, having divergent ideologies. This would have proved yet another failed experiment on the political scenario of the State and similar would have been the case with the installation of so-called Third Front formed on sheer political opportunism than on any proven political sagacity. Third Fronts have failed everywhere on the global and national level and very contemplation of such a front on the State level would have contributed more to its instability than to a workable alternate to good governance.
The alternate models of governance engineered by those who are not abreast with the history and geography and nor with the sociology of the state are experiments in wilderness and need to be avoided. A very intelligent handling of the problem is called for and the experimentation should give way to objective understanding of the issues involved in it. Pakistan will keep on pin pricking because their helplessness has driven them to resort to the theory of thousand cuts as they don’t have the might to fight their enemy directly.
To bring back the normalcy to the State and to restore peace and stability in the State, the need is to open the corridors of mind. More than the State leaders and Central leaders, it is the people of the state who have to rise and come out of the insulated walls and organize themselves into a missionary movement based on hard realities of history and the present constitutional set up and educate the masses that peace, stability and development are imperative for forward movement. Politicians have failed us, statesman are not visible, the need, therefore, is of objective public awareness. The settled issues can’t be reopened and clocks are not reversed, political opportunism will not work. An intelligent handling based on a sound and just policy will hold the key.
The fate of the nations is not decided on narrow political considerations, it needs bold initiatives based on objective criteria to handle issues of sensitive nature. Dissolution of Assemblies on political balance sheet may always not be the right thing but then what else is the remedy for stalling the political dishonesty resorted to by the opportunist politicians. It has happened, explanations will vary but then back to people puts onus on them and they have to rise to the occasion to twist the politics of the State towards peace and development. Let the neighbouring country take care of its people and stop meddling elsewhere.
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