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| Grant citizenship rights to refugees from Pak: Bhagwat | | News Analysis | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 12: On Tuesday, a very significant development took place at the far off Nagpur, Maharashtra. No one had ever expected that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would take a very hard line on J&K, that he will not spare the PDP-BJP Government in the state, that he will bat for equal treatment to Jammu and Ladakh and rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley and go to the extent of saying that the Union Government and the J&K Government were not working in unison.
If, on the one hand, he lambasted Sheikh Abdullah and the successive governments in J&K for their indifferent attitude towards the refugees from Pakistan and asked the concerned authorities to take appropriate steps to mitigate the 70-year-old problem of these refugees, on the other hand, he bemoaned the almost three-year-old exile of minority Hindus. "Many issues continue to hang fire. During the partition and subsequently many Hindu refugees were displaced from Pak-occupied Kashmir and arrived there. Sheikh Abdullah assured them that they will be given their rights. Their third generation is living there. They don't have State citizenship rights. They don't have ration cards and jobs. How long will they wait?", asked Bhagwat, and added that it was time for the government to rehabilitate the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley. "For decades, Kashmiri Pandits have been living outside. They should live where they used to and be sure of their protection as patriots and Hindus. Such circumstances should be created and they be given justice," he said in his Dussehra address.
Refugees from Pakistan have welcomed Mohan Bhagwat's statement for obvious reasons but the Kashmiri Hindu leadership has expressed unhappiness, saying "they could not co-exist with those who expelled them in 1990" and "they will go back to their land provided a separate homeland North East of Jhelum is created for the 7 lakh Kashmiri Hindus". Mohan Bhagwat not only talked about the refugees but he also talked about the discriminatory policies being pursued by the government and said there was the need to strength nationalist constituency in the state. "The State Government should work with the Centre to pursue one policy and move in one direction, noting that the nationalist forces should be strengthened and undesirable activities be rooted out. The situation in the State is a matter of concern," he said.
It was a great statement in the sense that it, on the one hand, indicated that he was not happy with the state government and, on the other, talked about the need of strengthening the nationalists in the state. What he said was also a sad reflection on the working of the state BJP and the BJP ministers. It would have been better had he directed the BJP ministers to do what he said about the refugees, Jammu and Ladakh. The BJP is part of the government. It can do wonders if it so likes but the problem is that the people at the helm in the RSS only make statements and not direct the BJP to do the needful.
Mohan Bhagat also tore into those who say the whole of the state is in turmoil and question Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new stand on PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. "Those creating trouble should be dealt firmly. There is no trouble in entire regions of Jammu and Ladakh, besides a large part of Kashmir.
Whole of Kashmir, including Mirpur, Muzzafarabad, Gilgit and Baltistan are an inseparable and integral part of India," he said. Of course, he committed a faux pas by terming Mirpur, Muzzafrabad and Gilgit-Baltistan parts of Kashmir. Mirpar was part of Jammu province, Muzzaffrabad was part of Kashmir province and Gilgit-Baltistan were parts of Ladakh.
All in all, it can be said that Mohan Bhagwat did some plain-speaking. One can only hope that he would direct the BJP to do the needful. Otherwise, it shall be taken by the aggrieved people to mean that it was just a statement and that he didn't mean what he said. |
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