Interlocutors excluded Madan & Lal from RTC

14 July 2011
Rustam Jammu, July 13: It was strange that the interlocutors for J&K ensured the participation of MPs like Mani Shankar Aiyer and Dr Rajan Sushant and several others from outside the state (who had no stakes in the state) in the roundtable conference but did not ensure the participation of the two Congress MPs from Jammu province Madan Lal Sharma and Lal Singh. Madan Lal Sharma was very much here in Jammu on the day roundtable conference started. Lal Singh was also there in Kathua on that day. Was it a deliberate attempt on the part of the interlocutors to exclude Madan and Lal and include the likes of Aiyer whose credentials are doubtful? Aiyer is a known supporter of those demanding greater autonomy for the state. He is one Congress leader who has been consistently urging the Union Government to engage with Pakistan, take into consideration the Pakistani concerns and cultivate peace with Islamabad at whatever cost. He is also a critic of New Delhi as far as its policy towards Pakistan and Kashmir is concerned. The very fact that the interlocutors brought Aiyer all the way from New Delhi to Jammu so that he could vitiate the proceeding by airing pro-Kashmir views raises several questions about their intentions. They should have ensured the participation of Madan and Lal as they represent Jammu province and its people in the Lok Sabha. Should their exclusion from the roundtable conference be construed as a deliberate move to allow others, majority of whom anti-Jammu, and even anti-India, and many of whom who never played any role whatever in the public life in Jammu province, to convert the roundtable conference into a pro-Kashmir event? It can be construed as a deliberate attempt. For, had Madan and Lal participated in the conference, others would not have dared to say what they said and went scot-free. One can only hope and pray that Madan and Lal would take up the issue of their exclusion from the conference with their bosses in New Delhi. They must take up this issue because what the interlocutors did was nothing but a deliberate affront to their self-respect.