Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 5: On Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a scathing attack on the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha and said that Congress was responsible for the problems being faced by the nation, especially in Kashmir. The occasion was debate on Statutory Resolution to impose President's rule in J&K in the Rajya Sabha
Lambasting the Congress, Jaitley, inter-alia, said; "In 1950, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was martyred as he died in custody without being given medical aid. How the elections were conducted in 1957, 1962 and 1967 was nothing but a mockery as one Magistrate, Abdul Khaliq used to make the MLAs by rejecting nomination papers of others. And the numbers (of Khalid-made MLAs) was not confined to one or two but 25 or 27. Such type of farce elections were conducted in Jammu and Kashmir for several years and you are blaming us for alienation during four year rule. You (Congress) sowed seeds of alienation purely on political grounds and to stay in power…It was because of your follies that there had become two type of MLAs in J&K-one Janata MLAs and other Khaliq-made MLAs".
Jaitley's major refrain was that JL Nehru's line was wrong and Mookerjee's right. "The day the people decide to know the history that whose policies-Jawahar Lal Nehru or Shyama Prasad Mookerjee -- were right on Kashmir, the Congress will be in big problem.
Now the question to be asked is: Who is preventing the BJP from pursuing Mookerjee's policies? The BJP remained in power at the Centre between 1996 and 2004. Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, but he did nothing whatsoever to implement the Mookerjee's policies in J&K. Rather, he preferred Nehruvian approach towards J&K: Appeasement of Kashmir, neglect of Jammu and Ladakh and indifferent attitude towards refugees from Pakistan, PoJK and Kashmir.
Narendra Modi has been PM of the country since May 2014. He, like late Vajpayee, has not done anything to even suggest that the BJP believed in the philosophy of late Mookerjee. As a matter of fact, the BJP forged an alliance with pro-separatist and pro-Pakistan PDP subverting the 2014 mandate. The BJP had all along dismissed the PDP and the NC "divisive" organizations and accused them of perpetrating injustice after injustice on Jammu and Ladakh but it shook hands both with the NC and the PDP, thus establishing that it could go to any extent to enjoy power.
Mookerjee, who laid down his life in Kashmir on June 23, 1953 for the cause of the country, was for one flag, one constitution and one Prime Minister. He was also for the reorganization of the state.
If the BJP really endorses Mookerjee's policies, it should implement them. The BJP can do it. It still has at its disposal two months. The BJP is in a position because the President of India, Vice-President of India, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Prime Minister, Home Minister, Law Minister and Governor of J&K all belong to the BJP. People want action on the ground and not hollow speeches. |
