Srinagar, Dec 23 (KNS): J&K Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone on Tuesday urged the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir to seriously reflect on a satirical cartoon by Bashir Ahmed Bashir, describing it as a stark portrayal of the present state of affairs.

Calling it “vintage BAB,” Lone praised the cartoon’s satirical brilliance, which depicts a minister burdened with an absurd number of portfolios, a visual metaphor for what Lone describes as the “state of current governance.”

He implored the Chief Minister to “please take this cartoon seriously,” emphasizing that his appeal was not political point-scoring but a sincere plea “with hand on heart.”

Lone warned that it is “unrealistic to even remotely imagine” that any minister, even one of above-average capability, could effectively manage multiple departments.

“When you overload people of below average intelligence with multiple portfolios which even a person of above average intelligence can’t handle,” he cautioned, “you are invariably ceding power to bureaucratic institutions.”

He argued that such overloads render ministers “helpless bystanders,” reduced to “glorified proxies of commissioner secretaries,” and that this dynamic undermines the very institution of elected governance. “If the same bureaucrats were running it for the LG administration, how is an elected government different?” he asked.

Lone’s critique extended beyond administrative logistics to the existential threats facing the polity of Jammu and Kashmir.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelHe identified two primary external threats: the region’s relegation to Union Territory status following the abrogation of Article 370, and the ongoing jurisdictional dispute between the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister. But he reserved his strongest words for what he called “the mother of all threats” the internal failure to utilize the limited power and authority still vested in the elected government.

“If the power and authority finally ceded to us is not executed by us,” Lone warned, “that diminishes the contribution of the institution of politics, the assembly and cabinet, to governance. And instead, the contribution to governance is wholly from the institution of bureaucracy.”

He urged the Chief Minister to induct more ministers, not merely as a logistical fix but as a political imperative. “This is the first government post-abrogation and relegation,” he reminded. “What you do may set a precedence and a very bad precedence.”

Lone’s appeal was framed as a defense of democratic dignity. “It simply is not about you or about your party,” he said. “It is about the polity of J&K. It is about the mandate of the people of J&K. Let us not humiliate the mandate of the people of J&K.”

In a closing note of restrained rebuke, Lone referenced the Chief Minister’s praise of the Prime Minister, saying, “It is a pity how you trivialised J&K’s relegation and subjugation. Let us keep that for another day.”(KNS)