Early Times Report
Jammu, May 22: BJP under BS Yeddyurappa formed government in Karnataka on May 17, two days after the people of the state gave a fractured mandate. His government fell on May 19. He quit even before facing a floor test like GN Azad did in Jammu & Kashmir on July 7, 2008. Yeddyurappa formed government on the plea that his party emerged as the single largest party in the just-held elections. The BJP had won 104 seats in the 224-member house. Its arch-political rivals the Congress and the JDS were defeated by the electorate. The Congress, which was in power, could win only 78 seats and the JDS won 38 seats. All the three main players had fought against each other.
However, the Congress got more votes as compared to the BJP. Its vote share was 38% as against the BJP's vote-share of 36.2%. As for the JDS, its vote share was just 20%.
The minority government of Yeddyurappa fell because both the Congress and the JDS joined hands against it. They fought two legal battles in the Supreme Court and won. To keep the BJP out of power, the Congress offered support to the JDS. It also offered the post of Chief Minister to the JDS. H D Kumaraswamy, son of former PM HD Devegowda, would form coalition government onWednesday, May 23.
The coalition between the Congress and the JDS has rattled the BJP, with its national president Amit Shah terming the coalition "unholy", "unprincipled" and against the mandate and asserting that the mandate was for the BJP.
Clearly, Amit Shah forgot what he and his party did in Jammu & Kashmir. The BJP had contested the election in Jammu & Kashmir against all the major players, the Congress, the NC and the PDP in 2014. The BJP prime ministerial candidate and present Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attacked the PDP and the NC from right and left and sought vote from the people of Jammu on the plank that "Baap-Beti" (Mufti Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti) and "Baap-Beta" (Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah" must be defeated as "they had ruined the state". The whole BJP campaign was directed against the Valley leadership and its Valley-centric policies and divisive politics. The BJP readers aroused sentiments against them in Jammu.
The BJP's campaign and the Narendra Modi's attack on the Baap-Beti and Baap-Beta clicked and the BJP got 25 seats out of 37 in Jammu. It failed to open its account in Kashmir. In fact, all its candidates, barring one, lost their security deposit. In Ladakh, where the BJP had for the first time won the lone Lok Sabha seat in May 2014, the BJP also lost its face, as the Congress won three of the four seats in Ladakh and the remaining fourth seat (Zanskar) was won by an independent candidate.
What did the BJP do to subvert the mandate in Jammu & Kashmir? It betrayed its Jammu constituency and joined hands with the PDP. It not just joined hands with the PDP, but also betrayed its ideologues - Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Deendayal Upadhaya - to fulfil its lust for power and pelf. It signed an agenda of alliance with the PDP, which was nothing but an agenda of subversion and capitulation. It made Article 370 almost a permanent feature; it gave (plenipotentiary) powers to the state government to facilitate talks between India and Pakistan; it provided for talks with Hurriyat leaders; it disgraced Dogriyat and Ladakhiyat by incorporating only (intolerant) Kashmiriyat in the agenda of alliance it provided for the vacation of the land the Army had been using for military operations; it promised return of NHPC-controlled two power projects to the state government; it trifurcated Jammu province into the plains of Jammu, the non-existent Chenab Valley and the non-existent Pir Panjal Valley to help the votaries of Greater Kashmir disintegrate Jammu province; it ditched the refugees from Pakistan, from Kashmir and PoJK; and bartered the dignity and honour of Jammu for the sake of power.
Not just this, the BJP, like the Congress in Karnataka, hand over the office of Chief Minister to the PDP for a full term of six years. Besides, it allowed the PDP to grab all the portfolios with political weight, funds and patronage. Some of these included Home, Finance, Planning, Revenue, Law, Education, Tourism, Agriculture, Information and Social Welfare.
The BJP has no moral and political right to term the Congress and JDS coalition in Karnataka "unholy", "unprincipled" and against the mandate. Is it could ditch its constituency in Jammu and Ladakh to share power with the PDP, why can't the Congress stitch an alliance with the JDS to keep the BJP out of the government in Karnataka. This politics of double-standard can't be the sole preserve of Amit Shah and his BJP. |
