Hyderabad: The public announcement by the Congress that it is parting ways with the National Conference, and that the governing partners in J&K would contest the Assembly election separately later this year, comes as no surprise. The Congress-NC alliance has been an uneasy coalition, and this has been manifest from time to time.
As a national party, the Congress has at different times cohabited the governing space with the NC as well as its regional rival, the People’s Democratic Party — the two Valley-based parties that are in the electoral arena — and has had areas of political disjunction with both.
There is nothing odd about this. The Valley perspective can often be at variance with the one from New Delhi, given Kashmir’s geography and peculiar history. Indeed, any national party that seeks out a regional ally in Kashmir is likely to have patches of discord. Even so, it is useful to bear in mind that no national party should hesitate to partner with a regional Valley-based entity to run the government in the state if that is needed.
Such arrangements are an important aspect of cutting the political distance between Srinagar and New Delhi.
All the same, the parting of ways between the Congress and the NC at this juncture is likely to be put down to the defeat of both in the Lok Sabha elections. Indeed, this cannot but have been a factor.
The NC leadership in the state administration didn’t cut ice, including with the party’s own rank and file. The Congress, for its part, didn’t cut ice on the national stage and the Lok Sabha results testify to this. It’s possible that the two parties might be severing ties even if one of them had done well in the Parliament election but not the other. (However, if both had done well, the uneasy alliance may just have continued.)
The people of J&K are an extremely pragmatic lot, and so are their political representatives. This gives the political space in the state remarkable resilience. Therefore, no surprise should be occasioned if the parties that are bidding each other adieu come together after the Assembly election either to form government together again or offer a joint opposition to whatever party or front that comes to power.
For this to happen, however, the Congress must continue to cohere at the Centre after the blow suffered in the parliamentary election.
