NEW DELHI: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah feels that Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao should take the national Opposition leaders into confidence and work out an autonomy package in order to restore normalcy to the strife-tom State.
Despite the Center’s serious intentions to hold elections to the State Assembly the National Conference (NC) leader has threatened to boycott the polls. S.B. Chavan has responded positively to his demands, which he attributed to a “communication gap.””
Asked how he would bridge the gap, Dr. Abdullah said: “We’ll keep knocking at the PM’s door till we bring it down.”
“He (the Prime Minister) has got the BJP around to so many things like the scam,” Dr. Abdullah pointed out, “I’m sure he can get them around on this as well,”
Dr. Abdullah maintained that autonomy was necessary given the adverse ground situation, where the gun still ruled. He said the resignations of officials and refusal of local staff to revise electoral rolls were adequate indications of the ground reactions to the proposed poll process.
“They talk of Amarnath Yatra…that was only one district, and despite their talk of getting 47,000 people to go there, not a single district official assisted,” Dr. Abdullah pointed out “How do they expect to hold polls in all the 14 districts of the State? Where will they get the staff? Are they thinking of something like the 1983 Assam elections, which the AASU. boycotted?”
Article extracted from this publication >> October 14, 1994
