By Dr. Gyan Pathak
India bloc’s political moves in Jammu and Kashmir have utterly upset the Union Minister of Home and BJP leader Amit Shah, especially the seat sharing announcement between the National Conference and the Congress, which prompted him to sharply attack Congress on the politically sensitive issue of unity of India asking 10 questions to the party and its leader Rahul Gandhi. It amounts to sensationalization of the Jammu and Kashmir election by the very minister on whom rests the responsibility of maintaining law and order and peace in the region that is already disturbed.
Neither Congress, nor Rahul Gandhi has yet answered these sensitive questions. However, Rahul Gandhi, while in Jammu and Kashmir, had earlier alleged that BJP sees entire nation through the “prism of Nagpur”, a reference to the RSS and asked party rank and file to gear up for the polls. He had also slammed the BJP for downgrading the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into a UT, adding, “In the independent history of India, representation has always been given its due space and everyone got representation but here (J&K) we have an instance where representation was snatched away from the people.”
While attacking Congress and Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah wanted to kill two birds with one stone but it is not likely to help the BJP either in the Union Territory or in Haryana scheduled to have election by October 1, 2024.
Much to his frustration, pre-poll alliance among the Congress, National Conference, and CPI(M) has been announced. It is a significant development, since the recently concluded Lok Sabha election result shows that National Conference had gained lead in 36 assembly segments out of 90 assembly seats in the state, while the BJP gained lead in just 29.
The share of votes bagged by National Conference and Congress during the Lok Sabha election was 22.30 per cent and 19.38 per cent respectively. On the other hand, BJP’s share of votes was only 24.36 per cent. Most disheartening factor for the BJP is abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A did not help the party to improve its political position in the state. Its share of votes came down by 23.13 per cent though the party was able to win two of the five Lok Sabha seats from the UT.
As for Haryana, the Lok Sabha election 2024 result shows that Congress had gained lead in 42 assembly segments out of 90 while snatching 5 of the BJP’s Lok Sabha seats out of all 10 it had won in 2019. Congress has also increased its vote share by 15.16 per cent compared to 2019 Lok Sabha election and bagged 43.67 per cent of votes. BJP on the other hand bagged 46.11 per cent of votes with a loss of 11.91 per cent vote share. The political air on the ground is blowing in favour of the Congress.
No wonder, Amit Shah has chosen to attack on Congress to emotionally influence the voters away from the Congress. He has posed 10 questions to the Congress alleging that it “played with the unity and security of the country in its greed for power”.
He reminded the promises made by National Conference which included encouraging dialogue between Pakistan and India and strive to restore Article 370 and 35 A and its statehood as prior to abrogation in 2019 and asked Congress and Rahul Gandhi the 10 questions, perhaps thinking that Congress will land into political trouble in the election bound states while answering the questions.
The questions themselves indirectly inflict injury to the unity of the Nation when Amit Shah alleges that formation of Congress-NC alliance risks the unity of the nation. His very first question is: Does Congress support National Conference’s promise of a separate flag for J&K again? The very question may agitate the common mind both within J&K and rest of India.
The second question is: Do Rahul Gandhi and Congress support the National Conference’s decision to push J&K back into an era of unrest and terrorism by bringing back Article 370 and Article 35A? In the first place, it is just imagination of his mind that National Conference is trying to push J&K back into an era of unrest and terrorism, and secondly, he falsely asserts that era of unrest and terrorism has ended after abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A. Terror attacks and unrest continue, if recent spate of incidents are of any indication.
Another question: Do Congress and Rahul Gandhi support nurturing terrorism and its ecosystem across the border (as a result) of the NC’s decision to start trade (across the LoC) with Pakistan? Normalisation of relations between the two countries is of paramount importance, and thus such questions should have been avoided since it has propensity to further deteriorate the relations.
Does Congress support bringing back the era of terrorism and shutdowns by reinstating to government posts family members of those involved in terrorism and stone-pelting? It is sad that a Home Minister thinks anyone guilty if one happens to be a member of the family whose other members are involved in a crime. Justice demands that no innocent should be prosecuted in place of other, even if their close relations are perpetrators of crime.
Further, no one can stomach the Amit Shah’s alleging that the Congress has anti-reservation face, especially at a time when he is batting for protecting the reservation policy, that we have recently seen in lateral entry into higher post in the Government of India. He asked Congress – Is the party with NC’s promise to do injustice to Dalits, Gujjars, Bakarwals, and Paharis by ending reservation?
BJP leaders have an obsession with change of names on communal lines is well known. He asks – Does Congress want Shankaracharya Parvat (a temple on a hill overlooking Srinagar and dedicated to Lord Shiva) – to be Takht-e-Suliman, and Hari Parvat as Koh-e-Maran?
Next three question are related to administration of the UT and its economy, which he presumes that the INDIA bloc rule would give rise to corruption, discrimination between Jammu and the Kashmir Valley, and the divisive thinking of autonomy to Kashmir. He asks, does Congress and Rahul Gandhi support these? However, electorate this time seem not ready to be diverted from their real issues of joblessness and cost of living crisis. (IPA Service)
