Only those who play smart at the end secures the victory. Jammu Kashmir National Conference has done the same and not only managed to control the damage that Kashmir based opposition attempted to inflict on it in the recently concluded budget session, but also managed a safe passage to evade the discussion on Waqf Bill and pass the resolution.
If NC would have allowed the discussion on Waqf Bill and subsequently the resolution passed as pitched by the Kashmir based opposition, it would have had a serious political ramification for the Omar Abdullah led government since New Delhi was keenly watching the developments of J&K Assembly.
Not only the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju was deputed to Srinagar to take Omar Abdullah government on board over the issue, the landing of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for three days visit to Union Territory at the same time was yet another effort by New Delhi to avoid any discussion and debate on Waqf Bill in Jammu Kashmir Assembly.
The beleaguered National Conference initially managed to evade the contentious issue after the Assembly speaker Abdul Rahim Rather dismissed the adjournment motion on Waqf Bill citing the business rules. This attempt triggered a massive uproar within the House and outside on streets since speaker belongs to the ruling party.
Fearing the public backlash, the NC legislatures made another effort to hijack the issue and attempted to build a pressure on speaker to allow the discussion on it as if the Speaker had made this decision independently. Despite the pandemonium and uproar in the House, the ruling party was totally on backfoot.
Sajjad Lone and Waheed Parra made significant efforts to sustain the pressure on ruling party owing to which the National Conference held two back-to-back meetings of all legislatures and alliance partners to overcome the crisis. As the session started on the last day on Wednesday, it was PDP who committed a gross mistake to attack on Mehraj Malik, AAP Mla from Doda for his remarks which not only allowed the BJP to jump into the situation and create ruckus in the house but justified the decision of speaker to suspend the session. PDP lacked the political maturity in the end of the session despite a commendable role of Waheed Ur Rehman Parra as an opposition leader from his party along with PC Chief Sajjad Lone who almost were on verge to decimate the political base of National Conference in Muslim Majority Kashmir on Waqf Bill.
The intentions of National Conference on the contentious issue were crystal clear from day one as it wanted to maintain the neutral stand on effective platforms like Parliament and Assembly and do the street politics at full length. The party even didn’t allow its most influential leader Ruhullah Mehdi to speak in Lok Sabha prompting him to explain his position through social media and official letter. This was followed by yet another development when Omar Abdullah strolled in the Tulip Garden along with the minority Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju who introduced the Amendments in the bill in the Parliament.
The pictures of only Muslim Chief Minister of the country Omar Abdullah in Tulip Garden along with the same minister was a well-planned show by New Delhi to share a message across the board that Muslims in majority have no grudges with the amendments.
The decision of Speaker sans rationality since the democratic countries like America, England and others use the same platforms not only to discuss their own issues but comment and debate on the world matters. So, it would not have any legal ramifications if Waqf bill would have been allowed to discuss in the Assembly as Tamil Nadu did. But it would have been a setback for the New Delhi if the only Muslim majority Union Territory would have rejected the law and equally costing Omar Abdullah daringly. Now on the streets given the massive political cadre of National Conference, PDP and Sajjad would be least effective to counter their politics as Omar Abdullah already hinted out that on Waqf Bill they will fight on streets now.
