The Pioneer
BJP should focus on Kashmiris’ real problems
BJP should focus on Kashmiris’ real problems
January 29, 2011 8:47:08 PM
Iftikhar Gilani (Columnist)
More national flags are hoisted in the Kashmir valley than elsewhere in India. Instead of dull symbolism, the BJP would do well to launch programmes to highlight the corruption and nepotism of the Omar Government
The country’s principal Opposition party’s Ekta Yatra to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar resembled a march to conquer enemy territory, giving all the impression that Tricolour is normally not allowed to be unfurled in Jammu and Kashmir even on occasions like Republic Day. The fact is that the Kashmir valley hosts the highest number of the national flag ceremonies on Republic and Independence Days each year than any other district in India.
People in Delhi and elsewhere would be surprised to know that no less than 450 such flag hoisting ceremonies are organised in the 10 districts that fall within the Valley region. Besides the famous Lal Chowk of Srinagar, where the BJP’s Yuva Morcha activists were heading in climax to their torturous expedition, there are more than 10 spots in the city alone where the national flags ceremoniously hoisted on the two national days. As for Lal Chowk, flag raising was done every year by the paramilitary forces, BSF and CRPF, until 2007 when their commandant-headed bunker moved out.
Other places in Srinagar that regularly have the Tricolour hoisted on R-Day and Independence Day include Palladium Cinema Chowk, Needous Hotel, Radio Kashmir, TV Station, Telephone Exchange and almost near all the bunkers and posts of the paramilitary forces. In every district, tehsil and block headquarters, the state ministers, district magistrates or tehsildars hoist flags in addition to Army organising their own functions separately at brigade and section headquarters.
So ordinary Kashmiris find it hard to understand why the BJP was up to so much fuss. People wondered if the saffronites were not up to their old rhetoric-oriented politics. The party had vowed to address the issue of Kashmir within the framework of “humanity,” when Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Srinagar in 2000. It was an imaginative and bold promise which paved the way for a peace process with the separatists. Later, on April 18, 2003, he also announced a “fresh hand of friendship with Pakistan” from Srinagar.
It is high time the national Opposition party stops looking at the Kashmir issue though a telescope erected on the soil of Hindu majority Jammu and Kathaua where it has considerable support. A solution to the Kashmir issue is necessary for regional peace as well as progress of the country. While on the one hand, BJP leaders vow to ensure the unity of the State, on the other they stoke the flames of division along communal lines by raising the issue of “discrimination” against Jammu and Ladakh. In the 2008 elections, as a fallout of the Amarnath land row, the BJP won 11 seats in the State Assembly, mostly in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts; up from just one seat it got in the 2002 election.
The party’s discrimination theory was punctured by the State Finance Commission (SFC)’s latest findings, which has concluded that Jammu, Kathua and Samba were among the most developed districts of the State. Actually they are more developed than the average Indian district. Even Leh was far more prosperous than nearby Kargil which, because of its Muslim majority, doesn’t exist in the BJP’s scheme of things. So, instead of trying to simulate phony patriotism by raising issues like “denial of democratic space”, the BJP would have done better had it capitalised on the State’s governance deficit.
What Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley faced in Jammu, from where they were bundled out to across the Punjab border, is daily recurrence for Kashmiri activists and politicians who dare to raise their voice against the misrule of the National Conference-Congress combine. The party hardly raised the issue of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s repeated absence from Srinagar when the State was on flames.
On September 13, 2010, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), at its meeting in New Delhi, had acknowledged “trust deficit” and “governance deficit” as the two biggest problems afflicting the approach towards J&K. Ironically, the eight confidence building measures announced a fortnight later did not announce any step to bridge the “governance deficit”.
Even in the two years since Omar Abdullah assumed office, the backbone of the state administration which comprises important commissions, the State Accountability Commission and Vigilance Commission are yet to be constituted. The Information Commission saw its first chief just a few days ago after much squabbling.
Surely, the BJP can turn over a new leaf if it supports democratic voices within J&K and lends support to the political and emotional empowerment of Kashmiri population. That is the only way to show a humane face of India to a people who have so far just seen either a mal-administered, unresponsive Government or a gun-totting soldier representing India’s face.
Iftikhar Gilani (Columnist)
More national flags are hoisted in the Kashmir valley than elsewhere in India. Instead of dull symbolism, the BJP would do well to launch programmes to highlight the corruption and nepotism of the Omar Government
The country’s principal Opposition party’s Ekta Yatra to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar resembled a march to conquer enemy territory, giving all the impression that Tricolour is normally not allowed to be unfurled in Jammu and Kashmir even on occasions like Republic Day. The fact is that the Kashmir valley hosts the highest number of the national flag ceremonies on Republic and Independence Days each year than any other district in India.
People in Delhi and elsewhere would be surprised to know that no less than 450 such flag hoisting ceremonies are organised in the 10 districts that fall within the Valley region. Besides the famous Lal Chowk of Srinagar, where the BJP’s Yuva Morcha activists were heading in climax to their torturous expedition, there are more than 10 spots in the city alone where the national flags ceremoniously hoisted on the two national days. As for Lal Chowk, flag raising was done every year by the paramilitary forces, BSF and CRPF, until 2007 when their commandant-headed bunker moved out.
Other places in Srinagar that regularly have the Tricolour hoisted on R-Day and Independence Day include Palladium Cinema Chowk, Needous Hotel, Radio Kashmir, TV Station, Telephone Exchange and almost near all the bunkers and posts of the paramilitary forces. In every district, tehsil and block headquarters, the state ministers, district magistrates or tehsildars hoist flags in addition to Army organising their own functions separately at brigade and section headquarters.
So ordinary Kashmiris find it hard to understand why the BJP was up to so much fuss. People wondered if the saffronites were not up to their old rhetoric-oriented politics. The party had vowed to address the issue of Kashmir within the framework of “humanity,” when Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Srinagar in 2000. It was an imaginative and bold promise which paved the way for a peace process with the separatists. Later, on April 18, 2003, he also announced a “fresh hand of friendship with Pakistan” from Srinagar.
It is high time the national Opposition party stops looking at the Kashmir issue though a telescope erected on the soil of Hindu majority Jammu and Kathaua where it has considerable support. A solution to the Kashmir issue is necessary for regional peace as well as progress of the country. While on the one hand, BJP leaders vow to ensure the unity of the State, on the other they stoke the flames of division along communal lines by raising the issue of “discrimination” against Jammu and Ladakh. In the 2008 elections, as a fallout of the Amarnath land row, the BJP won 11 seats in the State Assembly, mostly in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts; up from just one seat it got in the 2002 election.
The party’s discrimination theory was punctured by the State Finance Commission (SFC)’s latest findings, which has concluded that Jammu, Kathua and Samba were among the most developed districts of the State. Actually they are more developed than the average Indian district. Even Leh was far more prosperous than nearby Kargil which, because of its Muslim majority, doesn’t exist in the BJP’s scheme of things. So, instead of trying to simulate phony patriotism by raising issues like “denial of democratic space”, the BJP would have done better had it capitalised on the State’s governance deficit.
What Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley faced in Jammu, from where they were bundled out to across the Punjab border, is daily recurrence for Kashmiri activists and politicians who dare to raise their voice against the misrule of the National Conference-Congress combine. The party hardly raised the issue of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s repeated absence from Srinagar when the State was on flames.
On September 13, 2010, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), at its meeting in New Delhi, had acknowledged “trust deficit” and “governance deficit” as the two biggest problems afflicting the approach towards J&K. Ironically, the eight confidence building measures announced a fortnight later did not announce any step to bridge the “governance deficit”.
Even in the two years since Omar Abdullah assumed office, the backbone of the state administration which comprises important commissions, the State Accountability Commission and Vigilance Commission are yet to be constituted. The Information Commission saw its first chief just a few days ago after much squabbling.
Surely, the BJP can turn over a new leaf if it supports democratic voices within J&K and lends support to the political and emotional empowerment of Kashmiri population. That is the only way to show a humane face of India to a people who have so far just seen either a mal-administered, unresponsive Government or a gun-totting soldier representing India’s face.
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