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| Azad acknowledges people are against Article 370 | | Return of Kashmiri Hindus | | Neha
Jammu, June 24: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday virtually acknowledged that many people in Jammu and Kashmir are opposed to article 370 and the BJP uses it for electoral gains. "He has no expectations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi vis-a-vis resolution of Kashmir issue…The BJP is raking up Article 370 merely for vote bank politics. I have got no expectations…Kashmir is far…first let him (Modi) see the national front…I have been hearing about Article 370 for ages…Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the tallest BJP leader and nothing changed even during his time…It is being used only for vote bank for Assembly elections," he said while talking to reporters in Srinagar.
Two things were manifestly clear from what he said. One, the BJP's stand on Article 370 has been benefiting the BJP or there are sections of population in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh which vote for the BJP hoping it would repeal Article 370 or dilute it and integrate them with the country's mainstream. There is no doubt that bulk of population in the state is against this atrocious Article that has not only caused harm to the paramount national interest, but also jeopardized the interests of the people of the state in general and refugees from West Pakistan in particular and enabled the Kashmiri ruling elite to subvert the institutions.
Two, Azad, like many other Kashmiri leaders, also holds the view that the issue of Kashmir still remains unresolved. It would be only proper to say that Azad spoke the language of separatists and Pakistan. Infact, he exposed himself by saying what he said about the so-called Kashmir issue. It was perhaps for the first time that he talked rather loosely about Kashmir. He didn't say Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. On the contrary, he suggested that Kashmir issue needed to be resolved. He disappointed the nationalist constituency simply for vote bank politics. It's a different story that his attempt to appease the communal constituency in Kashmir will not help the Congress in the Valley. Contrarily, such attempts on the part of Azad and others of his ilk in his party would further erode the support-base of the Congress in Jammu province and Ladakh region. Remember, the Congress got only 20 per cent votes in the just-concluded general election in the state, which also included the votes of the NC. The vote-share of the Congress was only around 15 per cent, as against the BJP's vote share tally of 32.4 per cent and PDP's vote share tally of 20 per cent.
Azad not just accused the BJP of raking up Article 370 for political gains and created doubts in the minds of the people about the status of Kashmir, but also in a way opposed the return of internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus to the Valley. He warned the BJP-led Central Government "against announcing any package for Kashmir Pandits 'merely for vote bank' and without consulting the state Government. They (authorities in New Delhi) have to sit here with the elected state Government first…All the three regions of Jammu and Kashmir are sensitive and they should not give such statements merely for vote bank," Azad said. Only a day before, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Shabir Ahmad Shah had denounced the Narendra Modi Government for its decision to facilitate the return of Kashmiri Hindus. They had described the move of the Modi Government as a conspiracy hatched to convert the Muslim-majority Kashmir into Hindu-majority Kashmir - a charge that evoked a sharp response from the refugee camps in Jammu and elsewhere.
Significantly, NC working president and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi only the other day, was reportedly in sync with New Delhi. It appears Azad has lost his way. It's understandable. After all, the people of Jammu inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on him in the just-held Lok Sabha elections after they realized that they had committed a blunder mitake by trusting him and believing that he was democrat and secular. |
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