Two years later on Sunday a seven kilogrammes improvised explosive device (IED) was recovered near the Jammu bus stand. The timely detection of the IED averted a possible tragedy as the bus stand normally remains very crowded. The IED recovery comes close on the heels of the arrest of two top terrorists from Kunjwani in Jammu and Bari Brahmana area of Samba districts. However, it has also exposed the weak links in the security chain. Zahoor Ahmad Rather, a top terrorist affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF) who was wanted in connection with the killing of three BJP workers and a policeman in south Kashmir last year, was arrested in Bari Brahmana area of Samba on Saturday.
Earlier, Union Home Minister in Parliament on Saturday said that statehood of the Jammu and Kashmir can be restored at an appropriate time. If such incidents happen on a regular basis in the troubled areas of J&K the restoration of Statehood status will be further delayed and hampered. While replying to the remarks made by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary in the Lok Sabha that there was still no normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah asked what Congress has done for J-K. Shah also went on to say that people who demand statehood, “Why didn’t they remove Article 370 for 70 years?” He made it clear that nowhere is it written that Jammu and Kashmir would not get the statehood. “Where are you drawing the conclusion from? I have said in this House and I say it again that this Bill has got nothing to do with the Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. Statehood will be given to the UT at an appropriate time,” he said. Shah was laying the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the House.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha on Saturday. Around 170 Central laws are being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 that gave a special status to the erstwhile State.
In an another interesting move related to the Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while paying tribute to a retiring Rajya Sabha member and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, surprised him with tears and an emotionally choked voice. Azad, who is the Leader of Opposition, was moved and surprised. Not long ago in July 2018, Rahul Gandhi had walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chair in the Lok Sabha and tried to hug him, a move that stunned and surprised all who were watching the proceedings of the House. Optic does play its role and especially, when a live broadcast of Parliament proceedings have become the norm. It is a well-known fact that Azad is a dissident within the Congress and Modi very well knows it. The conventional wisdom may prompt political commentators and pundits to conclude that PM Modi is opening the doors for G-23 dissenters but is it moving too fast? In politics an opportunity should never be missed and that seems to have taken precedence. In fact, PM Modi quipped during his ‘emotional’ speech that Ghulam Nabi Azad may face more problems in his own Congress party.
It was in a similar manner that Rahul Gandhi was trying to convey how Modi brand of politics lacks empathy and compassion, the political motive PM Modi’s speech ventured to portray how Azad, just as PV Narasimha Rao and Pranab Mukherjee of the past, were never given importance in their own party. Anti-party activities within the Congress, is something that needs to be constantly stoked so that present day Gandhis, struggling on various fronts, remain entangled in their own in-house politics. Not surprising that the political pundits in the corridors of power have already started to whisper that given Azad’s proximity to PM Modi which bloomed in the late 1980s, it will not be surprising if Azad is made the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir again whenever the statehood is restored. Also, on the other platform murmurs have also started that Azad could be the best candidate for the Rashtrapati Bhavan when President Kovind’s five-year term ends in July next year.
