The PDP-led state government had alienated Jammu, Ladakh, left BJP with no option but to quit, says Kamal Sandesh.
New Delhi: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-led Jammu and Kashmir government “alienated” the people of Jammu and Ladakh and hence the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had “no option” but quit the alliance, according to Kamal Sandesh, the BJP’s official mouthpiece.
“The Valley-centric politics of PDP has made it incapable of rising above its political interests and take the people of Jammu and Ladakh along in building trust in society. In such a situation, BJP was left with no option but to withdraw support from the government and take up the cause of the people of the state,” reads an editorial in Kamal Sandesh.
The editorial is somewhat at odds with the party’s official stand on the issue.
On 19 June, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, flanked by the party’s top leadership of Jammu and Kashmir, said terrorism, violence, radicalism and threat to the fundamental right to life were in danger in the state. Madhav cited these as the reasons behind the BJP’s decision to party with its ally of three years.
The BJP had won 25 seats in the 2014 assembly elections in the state, all of which came from the Hindu-dominated Jammu region.
The BJP secured the lone Lok Sabha seat from Ladakh but drew a blank in the assembly elections, which were held after the Parliamentary polls.
Split a tribute to Mookerjee
The editorial in Kamal Sandesh said that with the state now under governor’s rule, it will allow the “Prime Minister’s strong political will and determined approach” to bring “lasting peace and development” to the region. This, it adds, will be a fitting tribute to Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, whose birth anniversary falls on 6 July.
“It was the weak policy of Congress and the then PM Jawahar Nehru that the demand of separate constitution, flag and permit system for entry in Kashmir was accepted and article 370 was inserted in the constitution,” reads the editorial. “Mookerjee led a movement against these provisions, was arrested and detained in Kashmir and under mysterious circumstances attained martyrdom.”
The mouthpiece also praised PM Modi for his “strong and determined leadership,” which has helped security forces “show good results in neutralising terror and subversive elements in the states.”
“India has responded well to the terror groups in last four years and brave Indian soldiers have been able to eliminate many key terror operatives in the Valley,” it said.