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Autonomy resolution spurs debate in LS

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The debate on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly's autonomy report in the Lok Sabha predictably saw the government and opposition parties accusing each other of doublespeak on the issue.

Senior Congress leader and deputy parliamentary party chief Madhavrao Scindia accused the Vajpayee government of "running with the hare and hunting with the hound."

"I cannot understand this ambivalent policy. The government is playing games with a matter of great sensitivity," Scindia warned while initiating the debate. He criticised the government's reported attempt to bifurcate J&K and underscored that any solution of the Kashmir dispute "must give participation to the people of Jammu and Ladakh."

He said his party opposed the attempt to 'negate' the country's secular traditions and wanted devolution of financial powers to the state for its economic development.

Contending that J&K received 14 times more central financial assistance than Bihar, 11 times more than Tamil Nadu, Scindia pointed out that the state would have to give 'good governance' but warned that governmental dialogue could not exclusively be held with the National Conference and the All Party Hurriyat Conference.

Bharatiya Janata Party member Lt Gen Tripathi criticised Scindia for the latter's 'selective memory' on Kashmir. He said that J&K not only needed more financial help from the Centre but 'the (Kashmiri) people's mindset would have to change'. "The effort to link the border state with the rest of India is necessary. The government is always ready for a dialogue to solve the Kashmir dispute," he pointed out.

Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma pointed out that the people of Kashmir had raised the autonomy issue because they did not know the Centre's stance on Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to the state. He described Dr Abdullah's as a 'great patriot' and a person who had maintained his cool despite provocation by leaders of the National Democratic Alliance.

Sangma made a strong case for 'cooperative federalism' which had been envisaged by the Sarkaria Commission report on centre-state relations.

Communist Party of India-Marxist house leader Somnath Chatterjee wondered how the NDA government would give autonomy to J&K, "when the BJP and the Sangh Parivar is committed to the abrogation of Article 370." He pointed out that the Union Cabinet had already rejected the autonomy resolution.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav wanted the government to clarify its stance on Article 370 and underlined that it should " not make the state a political laboratory."

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko congratulated the government for holding the debate on autonomy. He said in 1974, the then government had not even bothered to go through the Tamil Nadu assembly's autonomy report. He said during his earlier years, he was a member of the Dravidian movement, which called for a separate state. But now he was proud to be an Indian and wanted the government to erase the sense of alienation among Kashmiris, which had set in because of the lack of devolution of powers.

All speakers in the debate emphasised that there was no question of reverting to the pre-1953 status for J&K and that any solution would have to be within the framework of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and his cabinet colleagues Law Minister Pyare Lal Handoo and Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather met Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to garner support for the state's autonomy resolution.

A senior official at Jammu and Kashmir House in New Delhi said that both the Bihar chief minister and her husband were in favour of more autonomy to the states.

He indicated that the J&K chief minister's Bihar sojourn was in pursuance with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 'directive' that he should build an all-party consensus on the issue.

Officials in Bihar Niwas maintained that Laloo Yadav was 'very receptive' to the concept of autonomy to states.

Dr Abdullah and his colleagues will proceed to West Bengal and Assam in order to marshal further support.

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