Rough weather for young friend ?

BY MAHESH SHARMA

maheshsharma.jk@gmail.com

With separatists on one side and discontented jammuites on the other; with PDP on one side and BJP on the other, it is not difficult to deduce that rougher weather than chill e kalan awaits our young friend Omar Abdullah. Omar, 38, dressed up in a decent black sherwani, was sworn in as the eleventh chief minister of the J&K today in the afternoon at the Zorawer Singh auditorium in the Jammu University campus. Though Jammu region preferred to remain tight lipped over this development, his party workers and friends gave a warm reception when he flew in to Jammu yesterday. His challenges in the valley, he understands well but how he tackles the challenges in the Jammu region shall decide his future as a leader of Kashmir alone or Jammu also.

The rising discontent and requirement for its urgent redressal in Jammu that is even acknowledged by the INC leaders today coupled with the pro-Jammu forces like BJP, JKNPP and independents (Kathua and Bishnah-JSM) securing sixteen seats in the assembly, it is going to be extremely difficult for Omar to ignore Jammu or take it lightly. The decision of SAYSS to form Jammu Sangharsh Samiti (TOI, Jan 4, 2009) for Jammu statehood and the already existing Jammu State Morcha (P) that is following an identical agenda, matters shall worsen for him at the external front. Dr. Farooq Abdullah focusing and thanking militants and across the border Pakistan for smooth elections in J&K while forgetting the Indian nation and his brothers in the Jammu region will further make the matter more complicated for Omar from the Jammu perspective. He shall also have to bear the brunt of the political misdoings of his father and grandfather to the Jammu region. He also owes a big sorry to the people of this region with respect to his now (in)famous extempore speech in the parliament over the Amarnath Land row.

Where there is a will there is a way. Though, it is too early to judge the will of our new CM from the Jammu point of view and all we may do right now is pray that all turns out well. We also pray that he takes Jammu seriously and is able to get hold of good advisors (sans sycophancy) from the Jammu region that understand the pulse of its people and have the courage to express it. That is going to be the first step. The challenge to unite a regionally divided state is mammoth. But if he is able to accept it as an opportunity, his name is sure to be engraved in golden letters not only in the history of J&K but of the whole of Indian nation. For that he has to start afresh, without prejudice; not on a clean slate but more appropriately on a fresh notebook that has no impressions of the past.

Filed under: Articles by Mahesh Sharma, Current Affairs, Elections 2008, Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2008, Jammu blog, New J&K Chief minister, Omar Abdullah