The Manmohan Singh led Congress delegation during its two day visit could meet only the mainstream opposition leaders as both PDP and BJP sharing power in the state did not bother to approach Congress party for meeting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had come to Srinagar for talking to people on the current crisis in Kashmir. PDP and BJP not meeting Manmohan Singh was a surprise as the top two mainstream opposition parties National Conference and Congress together with PDF Chairman Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, DP(N) President Gh Hassan Mir,CPI(M) Secretary M.Y.Tarigami and AIP President Er Ab Rashid had met the Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his previous visits last year and this year. The ruling combine not meeting Manmohan Singh was a severe setback to the Congress party’s initiative for a politic outreach in Jammu & Kashmir with intents of increasing its political space in both Kashmir and Jammu divisions of the state. A more severe setback to the Congress party’s initiative for a political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir was the outright rejection of the invitation for a meeting with Manmohan Singh by trading bodies like Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI). The poor response to the Congress party’s initiative for a political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir was the failure of the successive Congress led governments in implementing the recommendations of several working groups constituted by a regime which was headed by Congress party and PDP was part of it. So while PDP is blaming the Congress party for non cooperation in the implementation of the recommendations of working groups from 2005-2008 and a three member team of interlocutors headed by noted Journalist Dileep Padgaonkar from 2010-2014. As all know the BJP is blaming Congress for working against the national interests and attributes the crisis in Kashmir to what the party calls “Nehru’s blunders”.
The poor response to Manmohan Singh led Congress delegation reminds the Congress party of its betrayals of the past which have discredited the mainstream political leadership to an unimaginable extent now.
Congress party which once found strong allies in Kashmir is now squarely held responsible for the current crisis in Kashmir by both mainstream political parties and the separatist leaders. Even poor response to its latest initiative for a political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir the Manmohan Singh led Congress delegation did not bother to promise a constructive role for the initiation of dialogue with the separatist leadership and Pakistan but tried to satisfy the political ego of the alienated masses in Kashmir with the words “ the central government should not close its doors for dialogue with the separatist leaders”. Interestingly Manmohan Singh led Congress delegation did not propose any new road map for dousing the current phase of unrest in Kashmir and restrained itself from contesting the stand of the central government on Article 35 A. The poor response to Manmohan Singh led Congress delegation reminds the Congress party of its betrayals of the past which have discredited the mainstream political leadership to an unimaginable extent now.
