Men, Matters & Memories
M L Kotru
It could well have been a happy retelling of events the State of Jammu and Kashmir has passed through this whole past year and more which witnessed the emergence of Narendra Modi’s BJP government in New Delhi coincidentally, followed by his triumph of sorts in Jammu, making the BJP the second largest party in the State Assembly, second only to the People’s Democratic Party , the predominant political party in the valley, with pockets of influence in the Jammu region as well.
The two parties, as was acknowledged by both were politically poles apart ,literally so. No wonder it took them long weeks of tough negotiations to agree to give the State a most unlikely coalition. It was indeed described by many as the unlikeliest of political marriages but which even the skeptics came to accept as the only viable alternative .And it was only appropriate that Prime Minister Modi considered the occasion politically significant enough to warrant his presence at the swearing-in ceremony of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his cabinet,including the BJP contingent with its Mr.Nirmal Singh taking oath as the Deputy Chie Minister.
Everything looked hunky dory at that longish ceremony held in the winter capital that day. Everything, except that the BJP had seemed suspicious of the larger PDP which had forged ahead of other traditional mainstream Valley parties, including the National Conference, and, in the process, steering ahead also of the BJP’s tally in the predominantly Hindu Jammu.
The BJP’s was undoubtedly a singular win Jammu, one which it had longed for many,many years. And all these years the party had also nursed an ever lengthening list of grouses, mainly rooted in its belief that the province had been discriminated against by successive State governments. This sense of grievance had been nursed over generations and aired initially by Mr Shyama Prasad Mukherji, a Minister in Nehru’s government once and the founder of the Jana Sangh, the BJP’s predecessor; the sense of grievanc was given form and character soon by Mr. Prem Nath Dogra,the Jammu leader and one of the prominent Jana Sangh leaders of the time.
This shot digression apart, it’s a fact the BJP, even as it continues to be in the coalition, has remained suspicious of the valley leadership, including lately the PDP.No secret this top BJP leaders including Modi and his henchman Amit Shsh had mentioned it all during last year’s poll campaign. And by none as vociferously as Ram Madhav, the Modi man , who was to burn lots of midnight oil cobble together a coalition after protracted talks with the State’s present Finance Minister, Haseeb Drabu and the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti .
If the BJP has been hedging its bets these past few months it is not because of Chief Minister,Mufti Mohammad Sayeed but because of the obstreperousness of some State BJP leaders and their mentors in New Delhi and Nagpur. Truth to tell, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which claims to be speaking for all Hindus in the State,Jammu especially, is being clever by attempting now to diminish the lead partner PDP’s predominant position in the valley (Muslim).And in this vain puirsuit it is willing to delude itself into believing that with help from local “nationalist Muslims” it can make inroads in the valley.A hopeless thought, if there ever was one.
The fate of the Kashmir coalition, they somehow believe is contingent on New Delhi’s willingness to bestow favours on the State, something the Modi government has been most generous to promise and very miserly when it came to delivery. In fact it has never delivered. The stinginess of the Centre has already assumed embarrassing proportions for the PDP-led government.
The flood relief package for the valley promised almost year ago by Modi himself has simply not been released, apart from the ridiculous leak that several hundred crores of rupees had been transferred from one book in New Delhi to another, from the consolidated fund to the Defence Ministry, a book adjustment supposed to have taken care of the rescue operations conducted by the Armed Forces during the unprecedented floods. A massive package was on the cards,so we were told, around Eid time – the date since shifted to an Independence for Modi to announce on I-Day.
Given the context of the on-again, off-again financial package and the belligerence of the Jammu unit of the BJP, virtually insisting on a lion’s share the package would have lost much of its lustre by the time it is announced. The centre could have a little more forthcoming and told the State that it is unable to make up its mind given the contrary pulls from the Jammu BJP. The honest thing to do for the Centre would have been for it to acknowledge the sharp division between the BJP partners and the PDP, with the minority partners wishing to grab most funds for Jammu which it somehow has come to believe is its private preserve.
The BJP unfortunately for the State appears intent on pursuing its separatist strategy seeing the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh as three different entities with differing aspirations.. And it has the backing of the entire saffron parivar in its pursuit of this objective.This is a most unfortunate development , one which does not augur well for the future.
And, thanks to the saffronite pulls the Centre has for all practical purposes decided to pursue its long-term objective of putting the valley in an isolation ward of sorts. One hopes this ill-considered myopic view of the State and its well-being is only an aberration .The Prime Minister one hopes will not yield to the temptation to see the state of Jammu and Kashmir through the prism of his party men in Jammu.The stakes in the State for the nation are much higher than measly political gains in a corner of our land.
What is important for the people of Jammu and Kashmir is an assurance that their plans of growth and development are not thwarted by political pettifogging. What is important is not whether the long delayed financial package would strengthen or weaken the PDP — BJP coalition nor whether it would help the BJP,the ruling party at the Centre,to make further gains in the State the next time over. Only a fair,just and equitable package will undo the damage already done to the entire State .I don’t know how others view the BJP’s role as the ruling party at the Centre and as a partner in the ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir
I for one see the party hell bent on sowing the seeds of separatism and to go by its intransigence in Jammu waiting to see the sentiment strike deep roots.Am sure,though, it can only hope to reap a bitter harvest should it continue to follow the path seemingly chosen by it.
(feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com)
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