Arun Jaitley
Indian security agencies have yesterday arrested a top Indian Mujahideen terrorist who was a Pakistani national and busted a Rajasthan based module which had planned to attack senior leaders during the elections. I compliment our security agencies who were involved in this process. India’s internal security has been of key concern to all, particularly for us in the BJP. India cannot afford to lower its guard. The threat comes from groups across the border which are supported by both State and non-State actors. It also comes from various indigenous modules. The threat further comes from various Maoist groups who believe in overthrowing India’s Parliament democracy by the use of violence. It is being suspected that various terrorist attacks in the recent years were engineered by these groups. As security agencies work overtime to track the activities of these groups, it is surprising that the political establishment of the Home Ministry recently announced that they had no information about any threat to political leaders, particularly of the BJP during the election campaign. Attempts would be made by insurgents to disturb India’s general elections. Our security establishments cannot afford to fail even once and must always be ahead of these insurgent groups in tracking and busting their activities like this one.
“BJP will resolve issues in Jammu & Kashmir through “Insaniyat”.”
During the past few days, I have read statements of various political groups in the Kashmir valley suggesting that the NDA Government in the past was more honest in addressing the issues of Jammu & Kashmir rather than the UPA government. Most of these groups are ideologically opposed to the BJP. Why then should they be more optimistic about the BJP’s sincerity on the issues of Jammu & Kashmir?
Jammu & Kashmir has been integral to the BJP ideology. As a nationalist organization, we believe that there can be no territorial compromise. Our views are also well-known. On the external dimensions of the issue, the BJP will never allow India’s territory to be bargained or compromised. On the internal dimensions, our approach will be guided by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee’s pronouncement that all issues will be resolved within the dimension of “Insanyiat”. My various visits to the State have convinced me that the sense of discrimination amongst the people of Jammu, Leh and Ladakh has to be addressed. Within the valley, our approach has to be guided by twin considerations of no concession to the separatists and the sense of concern and compassion of the average Kashmiri. Their quality of life has to be improved and the areas where they feel harassed will have to be addressed. In a fight against separatism, the people of Kashmir valley should be our important allies. Issues of their alienation will have to be addressed without compromising on the basic tenets of our ideology.
“BJP must get its act together for the last lap.”
As the election campaign enters the final stage with the announcement of most of our candidates, the BJP and the NDA are clearly front-runners. We not only have to preserve the lead, but also improve upon it. The front-runners advantage always gets strengthened in the last lap. The party, its workers and sympathizers must all remember that the things are going our way. We cannot afford to commit any mistakes. Since the BJP and Shri Narendra Modi occupy the centre stage, our mistake will be disproportionately highlighted. What happened in Karnataka yesterday was highly avoidable. It’s a tribute to the internal democracy within the BJP that most of our leaders and sympathizers spoke in one voice and the mistake was immediately corrected.
(The author is Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha)
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