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| Geelani feeling the heat, says one platform needed | | Countering Modi Effect? | | Neha
JAMMU, Aug 29: The Narendra Modi effect on the political scene of Jammu & Kashmir is being felt both by parties like the Congress and the NC as well as separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The NC and the Congress have realized that it would be difficult for them to counter the Modi effect not only in Jammu and Ladakh but also in Kashmir, especially in constituencies like Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Khanyar, Sopore, Tral and a few other assembly constituencies in the Valley. In fact, NC working president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is on record having said that these constituencies could go into the BJP’s kitty and he is holding the PDP leadership and separatists like Geelani responsible for creating a situation which could help the BJP win a few seats in the valley – a charge that has been refuted by several PDP leaders. Omar Abdullah, it is too well known, has been accusing the PDP leadership of hobnobbing with the senior BJP leaders, including Modi, and urging Geelani not to give a call for poll boycott, saying the election boycott would only help the BJP and harm the Kashmiri cause.
Significantly, Geelani too has admitted that Modi factor has become a potential threat and it has to be countered. The other day, he appealed to other separatists to come on one platform to meet the challenge posed by Modi and the BJP and it happened for the first time since he left the united Hurriyat Conference and formed his own outfit, Tehrik-e-Hurriyat. Geelani left the Hurriyat Conference 11 years ago following difference with Mirwaiz, who had the four-point formula of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf. “Unity based on principles and ideology has become the need of the hour to counter (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi government’s dangerous policies on Kashmir and the irresponsible approach of the local parties such as the NC (National Conference),” Geelani said in a written statement that was issued after the conclusion of the meeting of his amalgam’s executive council. “Unity among the separatist groups has become paramount to counter the ‘dangerous’ policies of the BJP government,” the statement further said, adding that “all ‘pro-freedom groups’ to gather at one place with certain conditions”. At the same time, Geelami made it loud and clear that his “doors are open” for all those separatists who repudiate “out-of-box solutions” to the Kashmir issue, “refrain from participating in ‘bilateral or triangular talks’ and would not take any ‘direct or indirect’ part in the elections”. “Based on the experience of the past, it is important that the future unity will also have a condition that anyone who opposes the agreed constitution and the agreed conditions will automatically be out of the unity and the membership will be cancelled,” he reportedly also said.
Notwithstanding the fact that his appeal to other separatists, especially APHC-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is unlikely to induce them to join the proposed platform to fight out Modi and his government’s policies, the fact remains that the emergence Modi on the national horizon and formation of his government at the centre has unnerved him. But more than that, his appeal indicates two more things. One, he doesn’t consider the present Pakistani leadership capable of playing any role in Kashmir. And the other is that he has admitted that his own outfit cannot help him achieve his goal: Merger of the state with Pakistan. All in all, it can be said the Modi factor has forced the Kashmiri separatists and “mainstream” leaders like Omar Abdullah to think in terms of devising new approaches to meet the Modi challenge. |
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