The National Conference(NC), which is heading the Jammu and Kashmir government, is witnessing a ‘sonrise’ in its ranks as the children of the party top brass, including a minister and Assembly Speaker as well as legislators -- both past and present-- have been given key posts in the Youth National Conference.
And the importance of the political pedigree in securing the plum posts was further underlined by the fact that seven out of the 14 newly appointed youth wing office-bearers have famous surnames.
Salman Sagar, who is the son of state Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Ali Mohammad Sagar has been made the provisional president while Speaker Mubarak Gul’s son Younis Mubarak has been made the deputy chief of the youth wing.
And Imran Nabi Dar, whose father the late Ghulam Nabi Dar was former Kulgam MLA,was appointed the provisional secretary.
Also Saleem Akhoon and Ahsan Pardesi,sons of MLAs Mohammad Sayeed Akhoon and Ghulam Qadir Pardesi respectively, were made the joint secretary and organiser. Similarly, Sayed Farhat son of former MLA Syed Rashid and Saba Jaan, daughter of NC leader Shafi, were appointed members,while Yawar Masoodi, son of Justice Hasnain Masoodi, was nominated as the youth wing’s organiser for South Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the NC leadership’s decision to handover plum organisational posts to the ‘princelings’ may well lead to heartburn among the ordinary party workers.
“There are some youth who had risked their lives by actively working for the party when things were not that good. They too should have been rewarded and given some role in the youth wing to send a signal that the leadership respects the hard work of party workers and young leaders,” said a senior NC worker from North Kashmir. Commenting on the development, political analyst Gul Mohammad Wani said, “the sonrise in the NC speaks of lack of democratisation and sense of insecurity in the party.”
According to him, the party generally allocates organisational posts on the basis of proven loyalty as it had endured a “history of betrayals” in the past at the hands of the Centre, including the split and “handing over power” to G M Shah in 1984.
Shah, who passed away some years ago, was brother-in-law of NC chief and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah. “Loyalty and not merit has been the yardstick for allocating party posts in the NC,” added Gul.