June 21: The recently concluded pre-poll alliance between the Awami Ittihad Party (AIP) of Engineer Rasheed and newly launched political outfit Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM) of Shah Faesal, IAS officer turned politician has not gone well with the leadership of National Conference since the rise of a viable alternative does not suit the political ambition of the party to form the next government in the state on its own asserted Brig Anil Gupta, State Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party. After the rout of PDP in the just concluded parliamentary elections, the NC leadership felt emboldened and began to daydream as well as mislead the public through tall claim of “forming strong, stable Govt in J&K on own”, riding on the TINA (There is No Alternative) factor, stated Brig Gupta.
However, the emergence of Peoples United Front (PUF) has upset the applecart of NC, which is scared of contesting the election with a viable alternative available to the people as claimed by the leaders of PUF, asserted Brig Gupta. Undoubtedly, PUF along with other parties will be contesting for the limited political space available in the Valley, since the alliance has not even a toehold in the Jammu and Ladakh regions. The frustration of NC leadership is evident from the statements made by them condemning the formation of PUF and terming it “as another step to divide votes in Kashmir,” as if division of votes in a democracy is a taboo, stated Brig Gupta. Irony is that after securing mere 10 percent votes in the last election held and declining vote share in all previously held elections, NC leadership still claims that “Only the NC is acceptable to the people of the state and they will vote for it.” NC deserves full marks for over-confidence, least realising that the same has been the major cause of its downfall, asserted Brig Gupta.
NC has been totally wiped off from the Jammu and Ladakh regions. The people of these regions are determined to show the door to the party that has not only been responsible for discrimination against them but also responsible for attempting to divide the regions on sub-regional and religious basis. Kashmiri hegemony has been the main agenda of NC which left no stone unturned to ensure suppression of the aspirations of the people of Jammu & Ladakh, asserted Brig Gupta.
Gupta further highlighted the NC’s strategy of scuttling the growth of opposition to challenge its monopoly of ruling the state. Right from the days of Sheikh Abdullah the party has been propagating the idea of “Single Party State,” so that Abdullah Dynasty could become the ruler of the state after he had deceitfully snatched the reins of the State from Maharaja Hari Singh. In order to ensure that NC first under the Sheikh and later under his son Farooq so manipulated the delimitation of assembly seats that Kashmir alone always had more seats than the half –way mark to form the government, rued Brig Gupta.
The NC is fooling itself by dreaming to form the next government on its own. It needs to regain the confidence of the people instead of resorting to their emotional exploitation through the hollow slogan of “Kashmiri Unity”, which so far they have been exploiting in the name of “Kashmiri Identity”. People have seen through the game plan of NC and hence are enthusiastic about emergence of viable alternative, asserted Brig Gupta.