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PM gave tongue-lashing to Farooq?

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was given a tongue-lashing by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for persisting with the issue of autonomy for his state. This explains why Dr Abdullah has toned down his demand, and explained that his intention in the first place was to start a national debate.

"My understanding is that the chief minister was summoned to Delhi and given a piece of mind by the prime minister for raising the issue of autonomy. That is why the chief minister has sought to soft-pedal the issue by calling for a national consensus on it," BJP vice-president J P Mathur told rediff.com.

According to Mathur, Dr Abdullah had been categorically told by the National Democratic Alliance government that raising a hue and cry over autonomy for J&K at this juncture, when the country was going through a critical phase in combating militancy in the border state, was wholly undesirable and that he should not persist with it in the state assembly.

It was indicated that Dr Abdullah had raised the issue in the first place in order to pander to his party men who have been insisting that the National Conference government came to power clearly stating that it would strive for autonomy.

"The government has to ensure that all such issues (like the quest for autonomy) do not adversely affect the unity and integrity of the country. Everything else is secondary and Dr Abdullah and his ilk should understand this," asserted BJP secretary Syed Mukhtar Naqvi to rediff.com.

He pointed out that this had been the Vajpayee government's consistent position, which was why it had been asserting that matters pertaining to J&K had to be resolved within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.

Significantly, according to a news report emanating from London, Union Home Minister L K Advani yesterday contended that the Vajpayee government was not per se against autonomy for J&K. Advani reportedly insisted that the state assembly's views would be kept in mind when the Centre considered t its autonomy report. The home minister, however, made it clear that the Centre was ready to address the grievances of the militants in Kashmir and the north-east provided they gave up arms and were ready for discussions within the framework of the Constitution.

Congress spokesman Anand Sharma alleged that the National Conference government had picked up the J&K autonomy issue in order to shift focus from its "dismal performance and throw a red herring to escape all-round censure". Like party colleague and spokesman Anil Shastri, Sharma said the Congress, while not opposed to autonomy for J&K, was determined to preserve the secular character of the state.

Both Sharma and Shastri urged the NDA government to clarify its stand on the autonomy report and underscored that Vajpayee had not yet reacted to the J&K chief minister's call for a national consensus on the issue.

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