BJP happy, Cong. finds Govt. 'guilty'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 4. The autonomy resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly may have been rejected unanimously by the Union Cabinet today, but the issue, it seems, will not simply go away as political parties have reacted differently to the manner in which the Government has dealt with the tricky issue.

While the BJP welcomed the decision and virtually warned the National Conference not to play with fire, the Left parties felt the issue, and not the resolution, ought to have been discussed properly, perhaps at an all-party meeting. The Congress(I), on the other hand, found the Government ``guilty by association'' with the NC, and noted that others who had joined the ``autonomy'' demand were ``all friends of the BJP.''

The CPI's view was that the peremptory manner in which the Cabinet dealt with the issue would send the wrong signal to the State's people: that the Centre was not interested in discussing a possible resolution of the problem. Mr A. B. Bardhan, party general secretary, said the issue was not the resolution on autonomy as passed by the Assembly, but the serious one of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. The CPI(M) politburo is expected to give its views tomorrow, but a spokesperson said the party favoured greater autonomy for the State within the framework of Article 370.

In the BJP's view, with the Cabinet having rejected the resolution, the issue would not be taken to Parliament, at least not by the Government. Mr. Jana Krishnamurthi, party vice- president, hoped that the Chief Minister and NC leader, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, would not rake up the issue again. ``He should understand and appreciate the Cabinet decision. That would be in the true spirit of democracy.'' His party colleague, Mr. J. P. Mathur, was more unsparing, saying ``Dr. Abdullah was acting like the forces which brought about Partition along communal lines.''

In a statement issued in Chennai, the AIADMK leader, Ms. Jayalalitha, demanded that the Abdullah Government be ``sacked'' for raising an issue that could only endanger national unity and that the BJP had taken a too casual, free-for-all attitude towards an issue concerning the very integrity of the nation. Her view was echoed by the Panthers Party president, Mr. Bhim Singh.

The Congress(I) felt vindicated that the Cabinet had rejected the autonomy resolution but pointed out that the issue exposed many contradictions in the Government's stand. It could not be ignored that the NC was an ``integral constituent of the National Democratic Alliance,'' Mr. Ajit Jogi, party spokesperson, noted, and that a partner in the coalition at the Centre ``passed a completely unsustainable and untenable resolution.''

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