Centre not for confrontation on autonomy issue

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30. With the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, back in the capital after a five-day foreign trip, the Centre will handle the hot potato - autonomy - handed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Though there is a sense of disappointment over the fact that the Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, was not content with a discussion on the ``autonomy report'' and that he allowed a resolution to be tabled and approved in the Assembly, there is no inclination to take a confrontationist approach.

To begin with, there will be an informal discussion with the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance, and then the Cabinet is expected to take a view of the next step. The idea is to carry along all allies and the Cabinet on a sensitive issue, rather than allow partisanship to take over.

The Prime Minister and the Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, would, of course, have to contend with the harsh polemics that has emanated from the BJP itself. Not only the Jammu unit but others within the BJP have also reacted in a ``scrap 370'' mien. Even the latest issue of the party's official organ, BJP Today,strikes a strident posture on the question of autonomy. The talking point with the allies, including the National Conference, is to underline the marginal utility of ``autonomy'' in the changed national and international context. For example, it is to be pointed out that a post-autonomy Jammu and Kashmir would be deprived of many safeguards it enjoys today. In particular, the point to be emphasised is that ``autonomy'' would mean greater power for executive authorities in Srinagar but very little empowerment for the people. Or, without the corrective institutional mechanism of the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India, the people of Jammu and Kashmir could lose quite a bit of political space.

The second major argument is that suggestions like ``two Prime Ministers'' would be exploited by Pakistan for propaganda purposes, without their bringing any countervailing advantage to India or, for that matter, Jammu and Kashmir.

At the same time, there would be no outright rejection of the ``autonomy'' report; instead, the argument is that the NDA stands for devolution of powers, as envisaged in the Sarkaria Commission report. Given the composition of the NDA, with a very large number of regional parties, the Prime Minister and his political advisors would want Dr. Abdullah and the National Conference to feel that the Centre is not averse to the idea of exploring the creative potential of the Indian federation.

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