Strong leadership Undermining autonomy
With reference to the editorial, “J&K’s siege within”, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s doctrine of peace, progress and prosperity in the state in the spirit of insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (identity of the people of Kashmir) was acclaimed by political players of all hues, including separatists and extremist elements in the Kashmir Valley.
Despite the setbacks to his dialogue initiatives — including the Kargil conflict, highjacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar and the terrorist attack on Parliament — the then National Democratic Alliance government continued to encourage confidence-building measures and people-to-people contact.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (pictured), during his visits to the state in 2014, emphasised development as his only agenda. He said, “I will return your trust in me with interest by ensuring fullfledged development in J&K.” The agenda of alliance of ruling state coalition partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), therefore, marked a welcome departure from the politics of anti-federalism and communalism that opposed any democratic or progressive action in the state.
It is unfortunate, however, that wrong policies of the BJP-PDP government have brought the situation to a head. Excessive use of force in the wake of protests over Hizbul militant Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter followed by civilian casualties shows the lack of preparedness in dealing with unrest on the part of the civil administration.
It is time politicians stopped stoking the flames of hatred. A strong mainstream leadership is imperative for coalition harmony and development in the state.
Shreyans Jain New Delhi With reference to Subhomoy Bhattacharjee’s report, “Move to change RBI governor ranking” (August 22), it is not correct to consider the Reserve Bank of India governor as a regulator. Other regulators are responsible for specific segments of the economy, such as securities market and insurance, whereas the RBI governor is responsible for macroeconomic stability. RBI actions have a much wider impact on the economy and monetary policy supplements fiscal and other public policies.
Making the RBI governor’s position subordinate to that of the Cabinet secretary indicates the government’s intention to undermine the central bank’s autonomy and let the bureaucracy always have an upper hand.
Outgoing RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was seeking to upgrade the governor’s position to that of a cabinet minister. The deputy chairman of NITI Aayog is of the rank of a cabinet minister; the national security advisor, who functions only in an advisory capacity, has the rank of a minister of state.
It is clever of the government to leak the plan at this juncture when the incumbent governor is not in a position to make an issue out of it.
C Chandrasekhar Mumbai