As of today,  Jammu and Kashmir is having  less than 11 months  to have what it  should have got in the past four years of the National Conference – Congress coalition government.  Instead  there is a self perpetuated aura that everything has been done, what was promised by the two parties at the time of 2008 Assembly polls. Even the panchayat elections, which were seen as a flawless accomplishment by the ruling coalition, have many shortcomings. The count of the shortcomings weigh far more than the accomplishment  itself. This fact is better known to the rulers  and they have acknowledged it  more than one way: the mid January reshuffle of the ministry when   some  ministers  had to go and new faces had to be brought in, as if they  were magicians who would change  things for better in the limited time at their disposal.
From 1996 to 2002, when the  National Conference had more than a two-third majority in the Assembly and it could  do anything it liked, under the watch of then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, the ministers and the legislators, were behaving  as if that was their last chance to  make  fortune.  This was not the comment that the much maligned media  was making, it were the responsible people within National Conference who were  leveling such charges.
This one –time syndrome  did not disappear during the  Peoples Democratic  Party's rule  from November 2002 to 2005, nor did it during the tenure of Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had to step down  because of the communal flames that were ignited because of the Amarnath land row. This time, he is  keeping his channels  open with both National Conference and  PDP, to complete his  unfinished agenda. His love for the  chair of   Chief Minister is  as much as that of  Omar Abdullah, Mufti Muhammad  Sayeed,  and  Saif-ud-Din Soz.
So, why blame the Omar Abdullah government for the corruption that  has taken place, and is taking place and would continue to take place in future, too.   Every time  someone  raises the issue of corruption, the rulers  from Farooq Abdullah to  Omar Abdullah, demand specifics.  There is a  day to day basis corruption, about  which  the rulers  are having the inputs from their agencies, party workers and others, or, in some cases that are known through RTI – Right to Information – but there is no action. Supposedly,  there was no corruption in the system, then why Farooq Abdullah government had to hear charges from Mufti Sayeed and Mufti Sayeed from Farooq Abdullah  and Omar Abdullah and Azad, among others from PDP.  Either those allegations were baseless, or there was some merit in  such accusations.
There are instances when the corruption related  files  were never seen. It was a well known fact that the list of the officers in the engineering departments was prepared, who were due for transfers, and those who wanted the “ prize” posting had to  pay the price.  The alibi that the  transfers were due, so there was no discrepancy of any type. Who could dispute that, but still the money  exchanged  hands.
Whatever happens in 2014 elections, only soothsayers may be able to say, but the fact of the matter is that the system is corrupt and the corruption’s end is nowhere in sight.  There is no need to press panic button, the results would be available after the elections, if those are held in free and fair atmosphere. No offence meant to the Election Commission of India, not a single election was fair in the state, be that 1977, 1983, 1987, 1996, 2002  or 2008. Who interfered in whose favour or against  the leaders and the party, is a common knowledge.  Leave alone the Assembly polls, what happened in 2011 legislative  council  elections, is still fresh in the memory  of the people. Who did  what  is well known.
The grassroots democracy  doesn’t come through elections alone. Even that process is incomplete- neither block development council elections have been held nor  Municipal  polls  and the money has been wasted, schemes have lapsed, and still we cry that the Centre is guilty. How fair is this charge against the Centre? It is unfair.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST