Early Times Report
Jammu, June 20: The BJP, on June 19, finally took the big plunge and withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government, which was, in fact, a government formed with the consent of the Hurriyat Conference. (Mehbooba Mufti on December 14, 2015 had herself said: "With (former Prime Minister) Vajpayee the experience was good, but forming an alliance with the present BJP was not easy for us. It took us two months to decide the agenda of alliance. Hurriyat party was also called and getting its consent on most of the issues the government is working".)
The decision of the BJP to withdraw its support to the Mehbooba Mufti government surprised all, including the PDP and the J&K unit of the BJP.
Will the withdrawal of support to the Mehbooba Mufti government or fall of the Mufti government and imposition of Governor's rule help the BJP retrieve the lost ground in Jammu and Ladakh? The answer cannot be in the affirmative, notwithstanding the fact that the people of Jammu, especially 6 million Hindus, celebrated the exit of Mehbooba Mufti from office as a day of thanks-giving and a day of deliverance. To say so is not to suggest that the BJP cannot restore the ground lost. It can retrieve the lost position provided it is willing to scrap Article 35-A, grant citizenship rights to the refugees from West Pakistan, hand over the Kathua case to the CBI for a fair and transparent inquiry, deport Rohingyas, withdraw the February 14, 2018 directions to the Revenue Magistracy and Police and reorganize the state on a regional basis to end the 70-year-old Kashmiri Muslim hegemony over Jammu and Ladakh. Will the BJP rise to the occasion to win over the alienated Jammu and Ladakh and send a right message across the nation? Only time will tell.
|
