Ever since PDP-BJP formed the government in Jammu and Kashmir and BJP came to the power at the centre, Kashmir has been in news for all the wrong reasons but just look at the headlines since that time — every day there were new chaos and helpless BJP had to compromise on its own principles in power greed. The BJP has finally pulled out of its alliance with PDP or People’s Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir because in politics, there are no permanent enemies and permanent friends! This decision has led the state under the Governor’s rule.
After ruling for these many years, now finally BJP has realised that the fundamental rights of citizens including the right to life and free speech are in danger. Defending the decision that has ended the shaky coalition two years before its term ends, BJP is hell-bent on giving every excuse. The BJP has 25 lawmakers and the PDP had 28 in the state assembly, where the majority mark is 45. The decision to withdraw support came after BJP president Amit Shah met with the party’s lawmakers from Jammu and Kashmir in Delhi. The rift between the two parties broadened following the Central government’s decision to resume anti-terror operations in the state after Ramzan. Mehbooba Mufti asserted that the Centre needed to reach out to the separatists. The Centre argued that the separatists lost an opportunity, as they did not take a cue from the civil society. The central government’s special peace initiative in the Kashmir Valley, suspension of cordon and search operations — all were taken to provide relief to the people during the holy month of Ramzan. The action of central government seems that it has allowed the situation in Kashmir to go on with a clear understanding to let it drift and there is no need for any special understanding or dealing with people in Kashmir. The youth in Kashmir is jobless, business less and with mobs ruling the roost, the biggest earner or employer, the Tourism Sector is more or less dead.
First of all, BJP coming to power in alliance with PDP was wrong. More than half a million army personnel are deployed in J&K and literally they control everything there. They are stationed there to contain violence (read stone pelters) in the region, which is similar to treating the infected population and preventing the spread. However, what the governments, both the centre and state, failed to do is to pull out the roots of the very problem. There must be a reason why so many youngsters are involved in the violence there and the reasons are not one or two but in plenty.
Over the years, the government has failed to generate a substantial amount of jobs for the people there. They have used the people as their vote bank for generations. Tourism industry lies in a pity state there. An industry which can generate revenue in millions and drive the state into prosperity is barely sustaining itself. The politicians are involved in bickering about Article 370 and other irrelevant stuff, while people are forced to do odd jobs just because of lack of tourism.
The infrastructure is in a sorry state owing to constitutional and political compulsions. It is true that the inclement weather prevails there but that cannot be an excuse. Our neighbour China has robust infrastructure even in remote locations. This results in the reduction of opportunities for the population of J&K. Students drop out of schools and colleges just because the schools are located far away from their homes and the roads are out of service most of the times. This gives rise to unemployed youths, which are then misled and used as the tools by the separatist leaders.
There have been numerous incidents when the army has misused the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and has done atrocities in the name of maintaining peace. The youngsters are picked up from their houses for interrogation, never to return again. This further encourages the young population to jump into militancy for ‘revenge’. The use of pellet guns for containing the violence causes serious injuries and mostly leaves the victim blind, thus increasing the burden on the government. Incitement by Separatist leaders — this is the major problem responsible for violence in J&K. These people provoke the youngsters to riot and pelt stones while their own children are residing or getting educated abroad. The government spends crores of rupees on their Z security cover while they are busy in giving provocative statements to instigate violence. The glorification of terrorists (remember Burhan Wani and Afzal Guru) lead to violence everywhere in the state, resulting in the loss of lives of hundreds of youngsters. The use of black money for encouraging the stone pelters cannot be denied, but violence did not come down after demonetisation is equally true. Modi’s election campaign lines were facepalm in the valley, many army men, civilians and intelligence personnel lost their lives. His soft approach towards Pakistan was another hypocrisy.
People of Jammu, are not much biased towards any political party but the Modi-mantra worked and BJP won 25 seats. The Modi wave led to the victory of many newbies and most of the heavyweight leaders got defeated with huge margin and this was really unexpected. The same condition prevailed in many of other constituencies. The huge mandate, which the people of Jammu and Kashmir gave, was the symbol of trust and faith they had shown in BJP and especially Narendra Modi. BJP had to fulfill the promises they made during the election but instead of accepting the catastrophe they pulled out support and passed the buck on Mehbooba Mufti.
The BJP-PDP government period is marked by the total failure of intelligence forces in finding and isolating instigators and financiers of the mob in the valley. Today, the voices coming out from valley speak in similar tones or language used by the terrorists of IS and Al-Qaida and other sundry leadership of Islamic Terrorism. This period is also marked by the abandonment of Kashmiriyat and increased an overbearing acceptance towards hardcore Islamisation by the society. Increased nationalistic mockery also marks this period in national media, which clearly identifies Kashmiri as a villain and anti-national. This period is also marked by increased cow vigilantism where most nearly 99 per cent of those killed in name of cow protection have been Muslims. This period is also marked by the politicians of ruling dispensation condoning these killings instead of condemning it. The latest example is Gulab Singh Kataria, the Minister in BJP government in Rajasthan appreciating the killing in Alwar and Mukhtar Naqvi, the Minister in the central government justifying the same on the floor of the Parliament. This period is also marked by a ruling party in centre who denied ticket to any Muslim candidate for the assembly elections in UP. This period is also marked by the clear demarcation of politics between Hindu Jammu and Muslim Kashmir where BJP and its leadership is totally absent from the valley and give an impression that it has nothing to do with about the happenings in valley.
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