During our school days we used to read a short story in our text books about a King who could not stand the truth and was given to extreme sycophancy. In order to please him, his courtiers had always to say yes to whatever the King would declare to be the truth. One day they decided to make a total fool of him and teach him a lesson. They told him that some merchants had brought from China some of the finest silks of which the King can make a wonderful dress. However, the silk was so fine that it would appear almost invisible. It was a heavenly dress fit only for a King. They took the King naked through the streets of his kingdom, lined with his subjects to show them the new heavenly dress. During the royal procession all the people were cheering the King and praising his new heavenly dress. However, at a corner an innocent child was standing and when he saw the King, he started laughing. The procession stopped and the King came to the child and asked why he was not cheering his new dress and why was he laughing? The child innocently said, because the King is naked!

It has been the usual line of all politicians, bureaucrats, and others in Delhi to always project that the basic problem in Kashmir is about development. In fact, after the last elections, there has been a parrot like discourse from one and all that Kashmiris want good infrastructure, employment, and other goodies of material living. They have given up their struggle for separation. In fact, the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort declared on the Independence Day that there was no space for the separatists after the successful elections. In spite of repeated mass upheavals from time to time for “Azadi” attempts are always made to hide the real facts. It was only last year during the land agitation and economic blockade that some of the well known intellectuals had been compelled to openly declare that India should let go of Kashmiris if their urge was so strong for “Azadi”. Again this year after the unfortunate episode in Shopian there were massive processions and shut downs. Still the people at the helm have refused to see the truth which is starkly visible to the entire world. And that is the basic political uncertainty in Kashmir. The Prime Minister has always been waving a wand of notes of Rs.30,000 crores on his visits to the state. Recently it had been pointed out that the state has not been able to spend more than Rs 6,000 crores in last few years. However, neither the Prime Minister nor any local mainstream leader has pointed out that more than the half of these funds are meant for the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation projects from which the state is supposed to get only about 12% royalty. It would have been better if the Centre had assisted the State to set up its own projects so that apart from overcoming the perennial power shortage, some revenue could be generated. Even in the past, the Centre instead of assisting in locally managed power generation by providing counter guarantee to foreign investors has been insisting on exclusive NHPC mega projects. The other big show at the rally where Omar Abdullah spoke out the stark truth is the “Train to Nowhere!” The train from Qazigund to Baramulla is not going to revolutionise the transportation nor remove the congestion on the existing roads. Most of the professional Kashmiri town planners had been suggesting the establishment of a motorway from Qazigund to Baramulla with feeder roads to all important towns en route. This would have definitely lessened the pressure on the existing sole road connection and would have also provided a high speed link between various towns. Another transport link totally neglected and now consigned to records by a so called expert committee is the River Jhelum. This has been the traditional system of transport in the valley for ages. It was fully operational for transportation of grain, building material, wood etc on huge barges till only a few decades back. Some of the ration Ghats are still extant on the River front. In earlier times the River used to be dredged regularly of all the silt etc. However, since 1947 no dredging has probably been done. It would have been very useful and environment friendly if a sincere and honest assessment had been carried out for fully dredging the entire length of the River with a view to restore water transportation.

Coming back to the main theme, all the efforts at development get negated or fail to have an impact because of a thoroughly corrupt system of delivery. This is a natural consequence of the basic political uncertainty. Omar Abdullah has the distinction of calling a spade a spade when it is required to be done. He did the same thing in the Parliament with his historic speech which pushed him to the top. His action in the State Assembly prompted by allegations of the opposition party very much raised his stock as an “Officer and a Gentleman”! This time again during the Prime Minister rally, the plain speaking about the real problem in Kashmir has shown that he does understand the basic ailments of the local people. Had he not been pulled down by his inherited unwieldy tainted baggage, he might have been able to do much more. Nevertheless, like the innocent child in the short story he has outspokenly pointed out that the basic problem in Kashmir is political. He in fact virtually rebuffed the Prime Minister by stating that the Kashmiri boys had not picked up the gun for money! The malaise in Kashmir is deeper than mere development related issues. In the short story, the King had realised his mistake after the innocent child pointed out that the King is naked. One hopes, the remarks of Omar Abdullah, probably uttered in the innocence and boldness of a child also make the leaders in Delhi realise their basic mistake in dealing with Kashmir?