The people of Jammu and Kashmir must be in severe dilemma these days because the man who they have voted to power with full mandate is behaving in a manner as if he was part and parcel of the opposition rather than head of the government. This statement has a strong basis because the chief minister Omar Abdullah has said that Centre cannot claim normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir until the tourist destinations closed after the Pahalgam attack earlier this year are reopened.
It is intriguing that the man elected for steering J&K with wholehearted support of people has been so disempowered that he has had to make a sort of complaint before the electorate that he is not able to do anything for reopening the closed tourist destinations, which he thinks can help in restoring or at least representing normalcy in the Union Territory of J&K. If the chief minister of J&K is so powerless that he cannot order the opening of the tourist spots when the tourism comes under the ambit of his government, one can gauge well the status of his leadership.
Instead of accusing someone else for the failure, he should have issued orders in this regard or at least taken up the matter with the Centre, because going public with such accusations would serve no purpose because this is not the election time, and he is not in the opposition or out of power rather he is in the chair and managing things for the good of J&K, and welfare of people is his solemn and bounded duty, which sadly is not being accomplished satisfactorily.
The situation becomes even more concerning when such statements create an impression that the government is internally divided or incapable of asserting its administrative control. Tourism has always been a backbone of J&K’s economy, and prolonged closure of destinations directly affects livelihoods of thousands of families. The people look towards the chief minister for reassurance and concrete action, not for statements that resemble opposition rhetoric or public grievances aired against the very system he heads.
This is the time that the chief minister should revisit his stance and start working in a manner to show his leadership before both the people and those who he thinks are creating hurdles for him to run the government the way he wants. If the man in chair in J&K fails to do the same in an efficient manner, chances are there that next time people will reconsider their decision about giving mandate and supporting him again to power.
