Srinagar: Irked by the protest of his party’s Lok Sabha member, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, against reservations despite the assurance given by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that it would be rationalised, the latter quoted Rudyard Kipling as he expected patience and trust from his party leaders and supporters.
After Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi led the anti-reservation protest at the Chief Minister’s Gupkar residence in Srinagar city, Omar Abdullah said on X, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too.”
“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated, don’t give way to hating. And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master. If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch. If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.”
There is little doubt that despite the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government constituting a cabinet sub-committee to make recommendations for rationalising the present reservation policy, his own Lok Sabha member leading the protests should embarrass the Chief Minister.
The problem with his party men and leaders seems to be that they are ignoring the basic fact that Jammu and Kashmir is a union territory and the elected government does not enjoy the same powers it would in a full fledged state.
While seeking restoration of statehood, Omar Abdullah appears to have realised that it would take some time and it is till such time that he expects his party leaders and supporters to keep their cool.
(IANS)
