NC's twin role

For the time being National Conference (NC) is playing the role of both - ruling party and opposition- inside the legislative assembly and outside also. This twin role is suiting the premier political party in the present scenario. This so, since Jammu and Kashmir continues to be a union territory with a dual power system. Is it  a blessing in disguise or a political compulsion for the party?

Since the elected government is not having full powers right now, its leaders are taking advantage of  the scope for being an  opposition in the matters which  do not fall in their domain.
To what extent and till what time this mixed role will help the ruling party, can become clear later. But opposition parties are not comfortable with such a scene.

The opposition  particularly from Kashmir feels that NC is trying to shrink further their already shrunken space by the new found tactics. They describe it as a "drama by the ruling party to cover up its increasing surrender before the central government and the subsequent appeasement policy." On the other hand,  NC circles feel that the people, who voted for it, have the realisation that the elected government is not that powerful at present as it used to be in past. According to them, the masses want to give the government time to settle and function so that the political space gained in governance through assembly polls is not lost and wasted.

The elected government continues to face numerous challenges. First and foremost that it has to operate within the dual power system. Secondly, NC government has lost now its earlier status and position of  being extremely important for centre as used to be the case in past. The NC government from 1996 to 2002 and then from 2008 to 2014 used to  get lot of support and pampering from the then central governments. That scenario has completely changed now.
Before and during the last year assembly polls,  BJP had made all possible efforts to get majority with its like minded parties  and form its own government and have its own chief minister.

But election results had something else in store, as NC got the majority with the support of few independents. Congress and CPI(M) too are also supporting  the elected government from outside. Even as the NC is having the political power again, the central BJP leadership has not given up its efforts to strengthen further their party in Jammu and Kashmir. That is evident from the meetings the central leaders are holding with their party leaders during their visits here. They are in constant touch with their J&K cadres to ensure that they do not get demoralised or disinterested since BJP is in opposition. The meetings and deliberations are also an assurance that the 2024 assembly polls may have given an unfavourable verdict for them but the efforts to have a BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir sometime in future are very much there and would be further strengthened.

NC is caught in a tricky situation. It does not want to have any kind of confrontation with the central government. But some of the moves by Lieutenant Governor administration are making the ruling party uncomfortable. The LG administration justifies its measures including the recent transfers of 48 JKAS officers saying that those are within its domain as the J&K Reorganisation Act of 2019. The central government too supports these moves.

The opposition criticised the elected government for "raising a hue and cry over the minor issue of transfers and observing complete silence over several important issues on which NC got votes. "The Kashmir based opposition parties are trying to take on the elected government for "deviating from its path." However, the impression at public level that the elected government has been  rendered powerless is an advantage to the ruling party right now.

Whether this impression will be an advantage for future  and whether the people would like the ruling party to assert and deliver will be known later only. NC in its election manifesto had promised fighting for the restoration of special status and related rights. Going by the history even the most powerful Kashmiri leaders have not been able to get back anything, which was eroded, and they had to be content with the changed scenarios only and move on.

At the moment, getting back the statehood is a compulsion for the elected government, which does not want to be like a toothless tiger on the governance front or in the political arena. The central government has been reiterating that the statehood will be restored at an appropriate time. But when that appropriate time will come , the top central government leadership knows about that. Till then the wait will continue and so will the increasing problems for the NC  government, which can ultimately hit its credibility.