Where Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh failed to feel the exact pulse, Sonia Gandhi got it too right
Junaid Rashid
They say actions speak louder than words. But UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi turned the maxim upside down during her Kashmir visit on Wednesday. Her words were more loud and clear than her actions.
Inauguration of the railway line was — as government would like us to believe — meant to get Kashmir closer to the rest of India. That was precisely the message Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Sing and Sonia Gandhi sent forth when they threw open the Asia’s second longest railway tunnel between Banihal and Qazi Gund. But the lexis and language Gandhi used in her inauguration speech had a different message.
“We”, “Them” and “Their” were the most excessively used words by her. For her “We” meant India and “Them” people of Kashmir. That brought forth the distance Srinagar still maintained with Delhi.
“Even as WE do understand that there are genuine concerns, but feel that issues can be resolved in a democratic manner through negotiation and dialogue. I want to tell people of this state that WE understand THEIR sentiments and believe that OUR democracy has a scope that we can solve all THEIR problems,” she said.
“I want to tell THEM, WE will work hand-in-hand with THEM for THEIR bright future.”
Sonia Gandhi’s speech was a grim reminder that government might try its best to remove the physical barriers with Kashmir but the mental barriers are there to remain, and cannot be easily overcome. It is not clear whether the UPA chairperson was conscious about what she spoke, but she definitely delivered a message.
It should have worked as a cue for the Prime Minister to detail on the political and psychological distance Kashmir maintains with New Delhi and he should have been more candid and outright to identify and address these concerns. But it appears that the Prime Minister had not done proper home work for his Kashmir visit. On crucial issue of political and psychological alienation of the people of Kashmir, Dr Manmohan Singh maintained discreet silence. He was criticized for avoiding speaking on political issues even by the ruling National Conference (NC). Dr Mahboob Beg, senior NC leader and Parliament Member, termed the Prime Minister’s visit as “failure”.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s uncle, MLA and NC General Secretary Dr Mustafa Kamal had even more unwelcome things to throw upon the Prime Minister. He congratulated the people of Kashmir for observing shutdown against Dr Singh and Sonia Gandhi’s visit.
So were the separatists fuming.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who, in 2005 and 06, had held two rounds of talks with Dr Singh, termed Prime Minister’s visit as “futile exercise”. Syed Ali Geelani, chairman of hard-line faction of the Hurriyat, Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Shah and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik had called for general strike on Prime Minister and UPA chairperson’s visit, which evoked complete response.
It sounded more like comical when, as stated by Dr Mahboob Beg, Prime Minister said, in response to NC leaders demand for restoring internal autonomy to the state, “it won’t be possible for me to respond in one go but I assure you I will look into all points raised by you one by one in next 11 months”.
The general elections in India are scheduled to be held within 9 months, and it not certain that the Congress could again emerge as winner and Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister.
Giving 11 months time for studying the NC resolution speaks of the seriousness government of India is pursuing with to its ‘concerns in Kashmir’
(The author is opinion editor at FreePress. You can send your write-ups to [email protected])
