Khursheed Wani
Fourteen years ago, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature passed a resolution favouring restoration of internal autonomy to the embattled state that it enjoyed between 1947 and 1953. That time ruling National Conference had two-thirds majority in the assembly and it was an ally of the BJP-led NDA regime headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The resolution was summarily rejected by the Center. The NC did not mind the humiliation and chose to cling to power for the next three years with Farooq Abdullah as Chief Minister in the state and his son Omar Abdullah as the junior minister of foreign affairs at the Center.
This time around, the NC also spearheaded passage of another visibly controversial but essentially a benign resolution in both Houses of Legislature in almost similar circumstances. The resolution has asked the Government of India to inquire the allegations made by retired General V K Singh in a time-bound and transparent manner.
Interestingly, this time NC is the ally of Congress-led UPA at the Center and Omar Abdullah is the Chief Minister while his father Farooq Abdullah is New and Renewable Energy Minister in the federal cabinet.
Unlike in 1999, the 2013 resolution was not outright rejected by the Centre. In fact, the Centre chose to maintain a dignified silence.
In 1999, the NC did not mind the humiliation and chose to cling to power for the next three years with Farooq Abdullah as Chief Minister in the state and his son Omar Abdullah as the junior minister of foreign affairs at the Center.
Before the resolution was passed in J&K Legislature, the Center began probing the controversial Technical Support Division (TSD), a secret unit of the army set up during the tenure of Gen VK Singh. But the J&K legislature is specifically desirous to look into revelations that TSD paid Agriculture Minister a whopping sum of Rs 1.19 crore allegedly to topple the Omar Abdullah government in 2010. It also generously funded an NGO, which filed singular case in J&K High Court to probe incumbent army chief Gen Bikram Singh’s role in an alleged fake encounter when he was sector commander of Rashtriya Rifles in south Kashmir.
The selective leak of the story had blemished Bikram Singh and his elevation to the top post was likely to become casualty. What baffled J&K’s mainstream politicians is, that Gen VK Singh, in a string of TV interviews in the follow-up of the TSD expose by a Delhi-based newspaper, blamed them of being on army’s payrolls. He did not limit the payoffs to his own tenure but maintained, time and again, that J&K Ministers had been taking money from the Army since the Independence.
Thus he indicted the likes of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad, Mirza Afzal Beigh, GM Sadiq and Mir Qasim et al.
The alleged TSD payoffs neither toppled Omar Abdullah nor scuttled Gen Bikram’s elevation. The allegation of phone tapping of likes of Omar Abdullah, too, has not proven to be of any consequence. The Rs 8-crore signal equipment imported from Singapore have since been rolled over and consigned to Chenab and Jhelum rivers. Therefore, Omar Abdullah government could have ignored the issue but it chose to rake it up more vociferously that it was expected. The NC’s provincial presidents Davinder Rana and Nasir Wani spoke on a string of press conferences to invoke Army’s involvement in 2010 killings and public uprising in Kashmir that had “almost” toppled Omar Abdullah’s government.
Interestingly, the ruling NC took a lead over other political parties, especially the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in moving a privilege motion against VK Singh in both houses of the assembly. The motion has not been disposed off yet.
The tirade against VK Singh actually suits NC’s present politics, based on appeasement of Congress at the Center. Omar Abdullah’s favourite pastime during the past many months has been to target the BJP because it suits his ally.
Interestingly, the NC leadership was clever enough to read the timing of revelations about VK Singh. Days after Singh shared dais with BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at an ex-servicemen rally, the newspaper report based on internal inquiry of the defence ministry, was published.
V.K. Singh has indicted the likes of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad, Mirza Afzal Beigh, GM Sadiq and Mir Qasim et al.
Consequently, the main target became the growing proximity of the former army chief with Modi and his party. Naturally, when Omar Abdullah trained guns against Singh and Modi, he definitely would have won some brownie points from the Congress. This guarantees stability to his government and a possible repetition of this coalition after 2014 elections, which otherwise is thought to be a distant proposition.
On the face of it, the J&K legislature passed unanimous resolutions against VK Singh’s uttering but in fact there was disagreement as many legislators, especially BJP and Panther’s Party members, likened it with a resolution against the Indian Army. It was former deputy chief minister and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Beigh, who articulated that
Gen Singh was a common individual after his retirement and a privilege motion against him was not tantamount to denigrating the army as an institution. Beigh skilfully ignored that VK Singh floated the TSD in his capacity as the army chief and did all the manoevering from the army headquarters.
His acts of commission have occurred during his tenure while his explanations to his acts and further accusations including the one that J&K ministers have been on payrolls since 1947, have surfaced after his retirement.
On October 9, Speaker Mubarak Gul announced to summon VK Singh to Kashmir to explain his position before the Chair. The Chief Minister has already written to PM To take action against Singh while a resolution passed in both houses of legislature has urged the Indian Government to inquire into the allegations.
The privilege motion is before the Speaker in assembly and referred to select committee in the Upper House. Collectively, this indicates that VK Singh has been surrounded in J&K. There is likelihood that if he attempts to renew his ties with the BJP or Narendra Modi in near future, the alarm bells will be sounded from Kashmir.
The Congress has reserved a deadly weapon in its arsenal and NC can be given “autonomy” to use this at appropriate.
(The author is a senior journalist with the Pioneer)
