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| Taking People For Granted | | BJP: Message for Jammu from Suraj Kund | |
STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
JAMMU, Sep 30: The BJP held three-day (Sep 26-28) meeting at Suraj Kund, near Delhi. It adopted a number of resolutions. It adopted a resolution on the economic health of the country and economic policies followed by the Congress-dictated UPA Government at the centre. It also adopted a comprehensive political resolution. The resolutions on the country’s economic health and political situation were highly critical of the Congress and the UPA Government. The BJP held both of them responsible for the bad economic and political situation and expressed the view that the continuation of the present dispensation for some more time would be fatal for the country. So much so, the BJP demanded resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying his government had compromised the Indian interests to please certain foreign powers and multi-national companies.
The political resolution also referred to the prevailing situation in Jammu & Kashmir, particularly the Valley; gruesome killing of some panches and sarpanches; the failure of the state government to empower panchayats; and Pakistani activities in the Gilgit-Baltistan region as well as the resolution the Pakistan-controlled Gilgit-Baltistan sham assembly adopted sometime back seeking provincial status for the region within Pakistan. The BJP expressed its concern over the prevailing situation and also questioned the UPA Government’s Kashmir policy. Indeed, the party made some right noises.
However, to say all this is not to suggest that the BJP also discussed the issues facing the people of Jammu Pradesh. Reports, which emanated from Suraj Kund on and after September 28, nowhere suggested that the BJP top brass discussed the plight of the people of Jammu Pradesh or suggested some model that could end the night of their discontent and despair and enable them to exercise co-equal powers with the people of prosperous, over-fed and pampered Kashmir. (The BJP adopted political resolution on September 28.) Those from the state who had gone to Suraj Kund to take part in the national level meeting of the BJP have also not said anything about what the BJP top brass said about the age-old demand of the people of Jammu Pradesh for political empowerment. It appears the local BJP leadership, which was part of the meet, did not raise the Jammu issue. It, like the local Congress leadership, always looks towards its high command.
If one goes by media reports, then one can say that the Jammu issue was not on the BJP agenda. It was not altogether unexpected. The BJP is a national party and it, like the Congress party, doesn’t attach much importance to Jammu because it returns to the Lok Sabha only two members, as also because it doesn’t want to annoy the members of a particular religious community. It, like the Congress, believes that its support to the genuine cause of Jammu will be construed by the Kashmiri leadership and Kashmiri Muslims as a manifestation of its belief in communal politics. The fact of the matter is that it, like the Congress, takes the people of Jammu for a ride considering the fact that they have no other choice but to remain loyal to India. It was not for nothing that the BJP in 2008 gave up its demand seeking regional council for Jammu.
It is a fact that the people of Jammu Pradesh have no other choice but to remain loyal to India. They cannot look towards Pakistan because of obvious regions and they cannot turn to China because of the contiguity factor. The people of Kashmir have several choices. Similarly, the people of Ladakh have umpteen times said that they would turn to China in the event of New Delhi thinking in terms of throwing in their lot with the Kashmiri leadership. It is the compulsion of the people of Jammu Pradesh that is being exploited by the national parties like the Congress and the BJP.
The message from Suraj Kund was that the people of Jammu Pradesh should not depend on the BJP and that they have to fend for themselves. |
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