Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s recent comments on Jammu and Kashmir’s Union Territory Foundation Day are the kinds of necessary clarification we expect. The LG unequivocally stated that the elected government in J&K has full governing authority and needs to stop claiming that their actions are hindered due to the absence of the state. This statement speaks directly to the emerging political narrative, which potentially privileges political grievance over serving the public interest.
It is well-known that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has continually referred to a “dual power structure” and the Union Territory status as impediments to the functioning of his governance. While the desire for statehood restoration is clear and, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah clearly stated in Parliament, is part of a “sequenced” plan–delimitation first, followed by elections, followed by statehood–it cannot be an everlasting excuse for governance. Certainly, the people of J&K voted in Assembly elections with the understanding that they were electing a government for a Union Territory. To now assert that work is hamstrung under the absence of statehood, as the LG accurately asserted, is an excuse that misleads the people.
The elected government has significant authority with regard to public service, development projects, education, health, and many more sectors that influence the day-to-day life of our people. To argue that development is contingent on a shift in constitutional status is to underestimate not only the capacity of government but the intelligence of our people. The voters voted for a government that would deliver development and effective governance. It is that mandate that demands a response, not an indefinite debate about constitutional status that the Centre has already described a time frame for.
LG Sinha’s speech correctly pointed to a transformation that commenced on October 31, 2019, the end of discriminatory laws, the advent of social justice, and the initiation of on-the-ground progress in infrastructure. In this new environment, the people’s aspirations are tied to economic outcomes, jobs, roads, quality education, and peace. These are the subjects of engagement where an elected government can and has to show its effectiveness.
So, it is time for CM Omar Abdullah and his government to switch gears. The focus should be less about negotiating political capital over something the Centre has already accepted and more about delivering the promised change to J&K’s people that the government campaigned on. The people of J&K need a government that is active in its approach to solving problems, not one that looks like it is waiting to engage in its task based on a different political period. Powers exist, a mandate exists, and a demand for development warrants a government to reconvene to express its intention to govern. J&K’s future will be created by people who work within the current socio-political framework to create a potential good day tomorrow, not by those who are still carrying the grievance of yesterday.
