There is only one way to keep Kashmir – and that is by complete integration. Article 370 must go; the separate flag and the separate constitution must go too. If it is necessary to have, President”s Rule is a temporary thing. Within a year or two there will have to be fresh elections. …But as I see it, the basic question is whether we want to keep Kashmir or not. Since it is decided that we must keep Kashmir, all necessary steps must be taken to implement that decision.”
– Shri M S Golwalkar (Guruji),Second Sarsanghachalk of RSS in an interview to Organiser in October 1967
The issue of J & K is not about the 5 districts of the Kashmir Valley
but about the entire region of J&K
Finally, the uneasy alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came to an end in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K), which many tried to explain as abrupt. If we go through the sequence of events – a prominent journalist being shot dead, abduction and killing of a rifleman of Bharatiya Army Aurangzeb, the continued killings during the suspension of operations announced at the beginning of Ramzan and imposition of the report by United Nations Human Rights Commission on Human Rights situation in ‘Kashmir’ – the break-up looks neither ‘abrupt’ not ‘unexpected’. One has to analyse the break-up of alliance and the future strategy in the State by grasping the underpinnings of these events.
While terming the alliance as ‘untenable’, talking about the success of this difficult Government, on behalf of BJP, Ram Madhav focussed on the development of all the three divisions of the State. On the other hand, the former Chief Minister Ms Mufti enlisted achievements like “preserved Article 370 of the Constitution, stood strong in defence of Article 35 (A) and withdrawn the cases against 11,000 first time stone-pelters”. She also took credit for discontinuation of the Army operations during Ramzan. This clearly depicts the contradiction in approach toward Governance. Not only in terms of real-politik but also for the national security, this was certainly ‘untenable’ for the party like BJP.
The contradictions further get sharpened with the manufactured outrage over the ‘Kathua-Case’, putting the entire ‘Jammu’ region in the dock. Many expected the break-up in alliance at that time. Finally, the series of violence during the unilateral ceasefire of operations during Ramzan gave the final jolt to the difficult alliance.
What next? Besides pushing the development agenda across the State, significantly curbing the external infiltration and befitting reply to Pakistan for violation of ceasefire on the border are the two important achievements of the Centre. Unfortunately, at the State level, allowing fundamentalists and separatists to carry forward their agenda in their limited pockets has vitiated the atmosphere. Fixing these miscreants with a heavy hand in the five problem districts and creating the legitimate space for the nationalist voices beyond that, should be the main focus. The undemocratic culture of stone-pelting should not be tolerated at any cost. The Government has already rejected the so-called human rights concerns raised by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) as biased, so no need to worry about the rights of the people who believe in violence and terrorism.
More importantly, ensuring peace and security during the ongoing Kheer-Bhawani Mela and upcoming Amarnath Yatra should be the immediate focus. We cannot afford to lose some more lives during these pilgrimages.
Using this opportunity to carve out a clear, coherent and consistent policy to realise the ultimate goal of complete integration of the entire State with the Union of Bharat is a must. To attain that objective, the Centre will have to evolve a mechanism to listen to the stakeholders beyond the valley.
@PrafullaKetkar
