Dr Ganesh Malhotra
In 2014 J&K Assembly elections were very interesting because of the situations prevailing in the state and changed political atmosphere at national level. There was a fractured mandate. The BJP won 25 seats and the PDP 28, the National Conference has 15 seats, the Congress 12 and others seven. In Jammu region mandate was in favour of BJP and in Kashmir in favour of PDP. Congress and NC keeping aside the aspirations of Jammu region tried their best to lure PDP for Grand Alliance but Late Mufti Syed by his political maturity decided to go with BJP. Formation of such Grand Alliance conceived by Azad of Congress would have escalated the feeling of already prevailing alienation among the people of Jammu towards valley. Both BJP and PDP formed Government in March 2015 after long negotiations.
Although the BJP and the PDP had campaigned vigorously against each other, they came together with an ‘Agenda of Alliance’ in the hope of pulling the state out of the cycle of violence and towards equitable development of all the three regions.
Jammu as a region has felt itself betrayed and alienated since 1947 after the end rule of Maharaja and taking over of the reins of Government by Kashmir centric parties and leadership as well as continuous indifferent attitude of successive Central Governments. Although Congress and NC used to get major seat share from Jammu region in previous elections but they couldn’t emotionally identify themselves with the people and aspirations of Jammu region. So the victory of BJP as a major force in 2014 assembly elections was seen as victory of Jammu region. In that situation formation of Government by BJP with PDP was natural product of given mandate. Many critics called it as ‘Unholy Alliance’. But this criticism was one sided.
Jammu as region has faced many discriminations right from 1947 since the taking over of reins of the State by NC under Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The first one was crushing of Praja Prishad movement in an undemocratic manner with criminal silence of Congress leadership in power at centre. The constituent assembly of J&K was constituted to frame Constitution of J&K with undemocratic means with writ of single party prevailing and rejecting of nominations of Praja Parishad candidates. The period of 1947-53 is projected by many scholars as shift from autocracy to Democracy but in reality this period witnessed the unelected rule of one party with one person dictating everything. Again congress leadership remained mute spectator to the condition of remaining two regions i.e. Jammu and Ladakh. The presence of voices from Jammu region was negligible in this period. The agitation of 2008 was also outburst of such sense of alienation among the people of Jammu region.
Formation of Government in 2015 was seen as an opportunity by national leadership to bridge the gap between two main regions of State with two main parties as a coalition partners. This was welcomed by many as an opportunity to solve Kashmir problem because of BJP in centre with strong leadership under PM Modi.
Central Government gave all types of assistance to State Government and granted the package of Rs 80 thousand crores for developmental purposes. Two AIIMS, IIT, IIM, ring roads, National Highways and many institutions were sanctioned. Jammu leadership along with central leadership of BJP looked for development as well as larger goal of permanent peace in the state through solution of Kashmir problem. PDP although in Agenda of Alliance agreed to keep aside its controversial issues aside but in the very beginning Mr Mufti Syed sparked a controversy by thanking Pakistan and terror group for letting the peaceful elections in J&K. Then there arose the issue of release of Masrat Alam. BJP and central leadership taking a cautious approach discussed these issues with PDP and compelled them to take decision in National interest. Opposition parties particularly Congress and NC who have been the main cause of all the mess in J&K used these as opportunity to launch a malicious campaign against Government and settle the score of their defeat of 2014 elections.
The attitude of PDP remained regional instead of Pan-State. A big development was that the PDP was unable to end its appeasement of separatist politics. In fact, in her press conference after the BJP withdrew from the coalition, Mehbooba Mufti said boldly that her party had done best to provide relief to the separatist. The PDP’s continuing soft with the separatists and terrorists was proving to be very damaging for the BJP in rest of India and its views on national security.
Their attitude in the ministries under their charge remained indifferent towards Jammu and Ladakh. For equitable development of J&K, restoration of peace here and integration of the State with Indian Union, which were main agenda of the Common Minimum Programme for the PDP-BJP alliance, all efforts were made by Jammu representatives to exert pressure for getting these projects implemented. There were frequent visits of PM Modi to the State for ensuring no trouble in smooth flow of funds, but both Jammu and Ladakh remained discriminated while security situation further deteriorated.
The projects sanctioned for Jammu were intentionally delayed, the PDP-led Government deliberately held up acquisition of land for setting up AIIMS while the newly sanctioned Government Medical Colleges were also not made functional from this session. The Central developmental schemes were not implemented properly depriving people of their benefits.
Similarly there were issues relating to the smooth functioning of forces in their ‘Operation All Out’. The Home department of State under CM filed FIRs against armed forces personnel which acted as a morale support to anti-India elements operating in state. The role of Home Department in Kathua issue, Rohingya issue and illegal order on encroachments also came under question.
The soft attitude of the state BJP leadership and central leadership in larger National interest was seen as weakness. Opposition parties used this long term attitude of BJP leadership as a tool to attack them despite knowing its repercussion in sensitive State of J&K.
The pull-out of BJP from Govt; and imposition of Governor Rule was welcomed across the spectrum. It demands first dismantling the atmosphere which promotes separatism and terrorism, cleansing the administration, removing disruptive elements, demolishing the funding networks of separatists, detoxifying the educational institutions and then restoring the political process.
(The author is J&K based strategic and political analyst)
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