news details |
|
|
| Is BJP really divisive? | | Congress and Article 370 | | Rustam
JAMMU, Feb 24: Is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) really divisive? Yes, according to Kashmir-based Congress leader and AICC member Abdul Gani Vakil, the BJP is divisive and anti-Kashmir.
Why does Vakil contemptuously dismiss the BJP as a divisive and anti-Kashmir outfit? Because the BJP wants the centre to remove Article 370 from the Indian statue book believing that this Article has harmed the state and not done it any good; because the BJP wants the State of Jammu & Kashmir to be at par with other states of the Union; because the BJP wants the people of the state to enjoy equal rights with other Indians under the Indian Constitution; because the BJP believes that Article 370 has, instead of addressing the real issues of the people of the state, created more problems and led to the promotion of fissiparous tendencies in the Kashmir Valley; because the BJP believes that the Kashmiri leadership has been consistently using Article 370 to create a wedge between Kashmir and rest of the country; because the BJP believes that Article 370 has given an opportunity to Pakistan and other hostile countries to create an impression the world over that Jammu & Kashmir is a disputed territory whose political future has yet to be decided; because the BJP believes that Article 370 has led to the rise of a situation in Kashmir that has enabled the Kashmiri leadership to exercise absolute powers, exploit the people of the state's two other regions and purge the Kashmir Valley of the nationalist forces; because the BJP believes that it is Article 370 that has harmed the interests of the minorities in the state as well as the refugees from West Pakistan and other refugees; because the BJP believes that Article 370 has deprived the Indian Parliament of its right to legislate on behalf of Jammu & Kashmir; and do so and so forth.
What is wrong in the arguments that the BJP advances against Article 370". There is absolutely nothing that is wrong in the arguments that it advances. The BJP is absolutely right when it says that when the Indian laws are acceptable to the Muslims across the nation, why should the same be not acceptable to the people of Kashmir? (read the followers of a particular religion).
Anyway, what provoked Vakil to come down heavily on the BJP and what did he say about it? What provoked Vakil to dismiss the BJP as a divisive outfit was the February 22 announcement of BJP MP Kirti Azad in Jammu that "he would take up the issue of Article 370 under rule 193 of the Parliament Business Rules to enable a wider discussion of the subject and his assertion that "Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to the state and was meant to be temporary, has done more harm than good to the state". While making his statement on Article 370, Azad had also accused the Congress of not bringing the state under the purview of all the provisions of the Indian Constitution. He had said "despite the Congress being in power in the state and at the centre, it has failed to extend as many as 133 provisions of the Indian Constitution to the state, depriving its people of benefits available to the people of other states, including reservations for SCs, STc and women". He did make a valid point.
Instead of appreciating the rational, national and genuinely secular views of Azad, Vakil poured venom on him and dismissed the BJP as a "divisive" outfit. "The Congress is committed to strengthening Article 370 and would oppose any move to dilute it tooth and nail. The forces trying to weaken or erode it are inimical to peace and tranquility…The Congress will fight for it both inside the Parliament as well as outside…In wake of prevailing sensitive situation in Kashmir no one should attempt to vitiate the atmosphere by issuing unproductive, uncalled for and discordant statements. This is the time when a kind of confidence is to be instilled in people of State so that they could come out of blue and lead a peaceful life, he said on Saturday while addressing a few unemployed Congress Seva Dal workers in Jammu.
Vakil left none in any doubt that he and his ilk in the Congress are no different from other Kashmiri leaders who not only want to hold the people of Kashmir away from the national mainstream on patently religious grounds but also want to get the entire state out of India under one communal pretext or the other so that they are able to introduce in the state Pakistan-like system of barbarism. Even far more disturbing is the fact that there is not a single Congressman in Jammu who has the guts to counter the highly divisive and communal approach of Vakil and his ilk.
As for the BJP, it should also remember that it had put its demand seeking abrogation of Article 370 on the backburner between 1998 and May 2004. It would do well not to do the same in case it comes back to power in Delhi in 2013 or 2014. There is the possibility of the BJP ending the Congress "misrule", as the people across the nation are fed up with the Congress and the UPA of which the NC is a constituent.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
