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No time to waste

THE FACT THAT Jammu and Kashmir should have been brought under Governor's rule — even if temporarily — with the newly elected Assembly kept under suspended animation, comes as a deflating sort of anti-climax to the successful completion of the democratic process and the praise it had won worldwide for its fairness, transparency and credibility. Yet, in the Constitutional sense, there is an element of inevitability about this development. Consider the facts. The electorate returns a split verdict. While the ruling National Conference is denied a renewed mandate, no single political party or group gets a clear majority either. The Congress and the People's Democratic Party — the two parties that stand a better chance of bringing up the required numbers in collaboration with minor groups and independents — even a full week after the results, are still to get their act together on Government formation. And the Governor, G.C. Saxena, gives them time till October 21 to come up with a viable and sustainable arrangement, and the deadline he has set extends beyond the six-year term of the outgoing Assembly by a few days. Now, with Farooq Abdullah choosing to queer the pitch by stoutly refusing to continue as caretaker Chief Minister beyond the (outgoing) Assembly's tenure — on the ground that he would have no "moral authority" to do so — the Governor has obviously been left with no option but to keep the new House under suspended animation and to take over the State administration. In fact, Mr. Saxena has apparently tried to persuade Dr. Abdullah to stay on till October 21, just a few days away, so that the necessity for imposing Governor's rule would not arise. To say that behind Dr. Abdullah's sudden show of concern for `moral values' is some kind of political calculation is to stress the obvious. But then, the fact remains that the blame primarily rests with the leaderships of the Congress and the PDP who are still engaged in an unseemly wrangle over evolving a power-sharing arrangement.

In a way, the promulgation of Governor's rule provides some leeway for the various political players in their endeavour to fabricate a workable coalition with the requisite majority support. For the Congress and the PDP, which have been given October 21 as the deadline, this may mean an easing of pressure to some extent. But nothing could be more shortsighted for them than to imagine that they can take their own time to finalise a viable formulation. Apart from the fact that they cannot expect to be given an unreasonably long time, they would be exposing themselves to more ridicule and condemnation, should they see the breather as an opportunity to continue playing their self-serving power game in the name of forging an alliance, totally insensitive to the needs and aspirations of the people, as expressed through the ballot. Above all, any prolongation of the `deadlock' between the two parties would necessarily entail serious embarrassments by way of heavy depletion in their ranks and, possibly, even of minor players carrying the day, with the National Conference not particularly averse to playing the spoiler. Given this context, Governor's rule must truly be seen by the leaderships of the Congress and the PDP as lending a greater sense of urgency to breaking the so-called `stalemate', which has mainly to do with the claim to chief ministership. While flexibility on both sides is a must for any mutually acceptable arrangement, it is axiomatic that the historical context which sets Jammu and Kashmir apart from the other States and has invested it with an importance that extends far beyond the nation's geographical frontiers is fully recognised and appreciated especially by the Congress. The scope which the synergy of a national party (Congress) and a regional outfit (PDP) — as partners in Government — provides for transforming the socio-political and development profiles of a troubled State like Jammu and Kashmir is indeed enormous. Not making such a synergy possible will be an inexcusable letdown of the interests of the State as well as the nation.

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