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| BJP's nationalism sham, may compromise on J&K | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 19: National BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay, in addition, suggested that the "anger" of Kashmiri youth "should be channelized into employment avenues". In other words, he ignored the STARK REALITY that unemployment rate in Kashmir is less than 30 per cent, as against over 69 per cent in Jammu province, and that he, like all other political leaders, Delhi-based or otherwise, talked in terms of creating more employment avenues for the Kashmiris. While making such a suggestion, he also overlooked the complaint of the Jammu-based BJP leadership that the educated unemployed youth in Jammu province have been facing acute unemployment problem and that the official employment policy is essentially Kashmir-centric. What he said should not surprise anyone in Jammu. After all, the BJP has all along betrayed Jammu.
The truth, in short, is that Tarun Vijay visited Kashmir only to tell the people there that the BJP is with them and that his party would not mind if the Union Government grants self-rule or greater autonomy to J&K. It needs to be recalled that Tarun Vijay, who also heads Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, located in Delhi, had provided this platform to Madhu Kishwar, a well-known supporter of self-rule, and he had provided her this platform despite the fact that only a couple of days before she had submitted a document to the Government of India containing, among other things, a suggestion that J&K be given what the protagonists of self-rule and others in Kashmir had been demanding. It is, however, a different matter that she was not allowed to speak by a few displaced Kashmiri Pandits and a Delhi-based columnist. But her leaving the venue in a huff does not in any way reflect a change in the attitude of Tarun Vijay. The situation was such that he couldn't intervene on behalf of Madhu Kiswar.
All this should establish that the BJP says one thing in Jammu and does exactly the opposite in Kashmir and in Delhi. In Kashmir, it identifies itself with the separatist and pro-autonomy and pro-self-rule sentiment. In Delhi, it behaves in a fashion that indicates its willingness to accommodate the Pakistani views on the Indian-administered J&K. This is not an exaggeration. This is a hard reality. Even a known India-baiter and great friend of Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists A G Noorani, who has been fighting on behalf of Pakistan and its agents in Kashmir, particularly since 1954, has acknowledged the fact that the BJP has repeatedly expressed itself in favour of a compromise on J&K.
Take, for example, Noorani's latest political essay on Kashmir. It was entitled "Consensus on Kashmir". It was published in a local English language daily just three days ago (May 16). Noorani, inter-alia, wrote, "In 2004 L.K. Advani asserted that the Hindus would trust the BJP alone to forge an accord with Pakistan. In 2007, he and Atal Behari Vajpayee asked Pakistani visitors to wait till the BJP returned to power; it would give better terms". It is, however, true that he did say that "in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is sworn to oppose any initiative by the present government on any major issue, whether domestic or foreign".
However, it is difficult to agree with Noorani when he expressed the doubt that it is extremely unlikely that the BJP would support the initiative of the Congress-led UPA Government in this direction. After all, it was the BJP that started the peace process with Pakistan. Again, it was the BJP that agreed in March 1999 at Colombo to implement the Musharraf's four-point Kashmir solution with some changes here and there within a period of four/five years. The case in point is the outcome of the talks between the then Indian Foreign Minister and his Pakistani counterpart, held in Colombo in March 1999.
All this proves that the BJP is out to not only outrage the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Ladakh and displaced Kashmiri Pandits, but also to throw in their lot with Pakistan and their agents in Kashmir. It is an appropriate moment to expose the BJP and its perverted ideology. Time is also ripe to take on the RSS that controls the BJP. The Congress can expose the BJP provided it is willing to follow the path charted by the late Indira Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao. Will it? (Concluded).
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