Ill-Gotten Inheritance

Dear Omer,

You dont know me. Nor do I know you. But now, I am forced to at least know of you; and perhaps even communicate with you. For, ceterus paribus, you will be elected in the forthcoming elections from my hometown, Srinagar. That explains this letter.

You are, self-confessedly, in the fray to help your father, Farooq Abdullah. In your first interview, you are on record to say that for your father there can be no better and reliable confidante than me. At a personal level, sure. But professionally?

If your father has not been able to find a reliable confidante in the near two decades that he has been in active politics, it is a comment on him as a politician; a consequence of the method of his entry into the party; and a reflection of his style of governance. Recall his entry into politics. He was, like you, a blue blooded novice; maybe a trifle better placed than you. To begin with, he had a great politician as his initiator.

 

The reason why Farooq Abdullah does not have confidantes is because he never went through the mill. He was an outsider to the fraternity of politics. Confidantes are developed in the trying times when one is going through the grill; fighting political battles. It is in those troubled times, that the bonds of ideology develop and those of loyalty deepen.

Contrast the situation of your father with that of your grandfather. Sheikh Mohd Abdullah had so many confidantes that he didnt have to bother about his sons in the first 30 years of his political career. So, between 1931 and 1962, you could see none of his blood relations in politics. Neither of us was born then, but the mix of legend and fable that the history of Kashmir has become, will have you believe that in the pre-1953 period, the entire valley was his confidante. A bit of an exaggeration, but not outlandishly so.

But the book that you are likely to read or the hagiology that you are more likely to hear will no doubt tell you that that is precisely the argument for having a son as a political confidante. His most trusted lieutenant Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad betrayed him. Bakshi did him in in 1953.

I hold no brief for Bakshi. But with the benefit of hindsight, it was the unsustainable position that Sheikh Abdullah took that caused the problem. He wanted to be a part of India and yet not quite a part of India. Later, even he recognised the fallacy of his earlier position, resulting in the 1975 accord with Indira Gandhi. After that accord, the first Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir became the fourth chief minister of the state. He came down from the lofty position of autonomy when he agreed to continue with the system whereby the head of the state was appointed by the President of India and not elected by the J&K legislature.

Indeed, when the committee (set up by him) to repeal all laws extended to the state during the tenure of Bakshi and other betrayers, advocated a repeal of these laws, it was Sheikh Abdullah who decided against it. This, notwithstanding the fact that National Conference had a two-thirds majority and could have repealed all the laws which had been extended to the state unconstitutionally. But by then the lion had been tamed. Incidentally, the same drama is being re-enacted now. I dont know if your father has already started confiding in you, but he is sure to have a role scripted for you in what will be yet another deplorable episode in the history of Kashmir.

The Bakshi betrayal can be seen as arising from legitimate political differences. But the action of India, for which you statedly hold a brief, caused the real problem which will not go away. If the constituent assembly had been dissolved and fresh elections ordered, the history of the state would have been completely different. So, the resolve to convey to the youth that staying with India is the best option for Kashmiris, noble as it may be, is naive.

Your political innocence is also obvious from your taking solace from the fact that you will not be nominated but elected. The difference, in the case of J&K in general and the National Conference (NC) in particular, is at best semantic. Can I take you back in history a little? In the first elections held in 1951, not a single vote was cast in the valley because the NC ensured that 73 out of a total of 75 seats were not even contested. This was not because of Sheikh Abdullahs hold over the masses. Instead, it had more to do with draconian laws, like the Enemy Ordinances Act which was used to reject the nomination papers of all the Opposition candidates, mainly those of the Praja Parishad in Jammu. In the 1957 elections, the NC, this time going to the polls without Sheikh Abdullah, ensured that all 43 candidates from the valley were elected unopposed. Elected you would say!

What makes this comedy of errors a tragedy of sorts is the timing of your entry into Parliament. This is will be one of the most sensitive periods in the history of Kashmir. The whole question of the type and form of association with India will be discussed afresh once the autonomy committee makes its recommendations. You will be expected to convince the Indian Parliament of the legitimacy of the Kashmiri peoples ethno-territorial demands. In this, you will not only need the oratorial skills of an Atal Behari Vajpayee for whom you have expressed great admiration but the stature of a Sheikh Abdullah and the integrity of a Sardar Patel. And all this comes from a life-time in hard core politics.

And that is precisely what you need. By all means, joins politics. You have as much right to join politics as anybody else. But come through the proper channel. The NC is a cadre-based party. Take membership and rise through the ranks from the level of a halqa to the highest level. Then everybody will be proud of you because you would have reversed a disgraceful trend in politics today.

But, for the moment, I will feel ashamed the day you get the stamp of electoral approval on your nomination. I didnt have such strong feelings when your father was coronated. One had been told that a dwarf on the shoulders of the giant can see further than the giant. He didnt. Now, with you on the shoulders of a dwarf, I have no hope.

Wishing you all the best in your personal life.