The collapse of the government in Jammu & Kashmir naturally led to a trading of allegations between the PDP and the BJP. BJP President Amit Shah accused the Mehbooba Mufti Govt of discriminating against Jammu and Ladakh. The Mufti and the Omar Abdullah families were accused of amassing wealth at the cost of the people. Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz were accused of being sympathetic to the LeT. It was alleged that pressure groups did not allow the Govt to function. P M Narendra Modi’s largesse to J & K was not properly utilised. Mehbooba hit back saying that the BJP has disowned its own initiative. The PDP was wrongly blamed for being soft on the deteriorating situation in the valley which had been in turmoil for a long time. The floods of 2014 were a setback. But development was not stymied in other parts of the state. The BJP, she said, should review the performance of its own ministers who largely represented Jammu. None among them voiced concerns about discrimination against Jammu.
The PDP was not responsible for the shooting of journalist Shujaat Bukhari Shah who represented the power of the pen. Indeed the killers of Bukhari at still at large and so too the many others responsible for the elimination of journalists elsewhere. Some BJP leaders played a nefarious role in the Kathua rape case. BJP played hardball in the valley where protest against it was mounting. That the BJP sought to push all these inflammatory events under the carpet and now lay the blame for the rapid failure of governance on its PDP partner only shows how tenuous the partnership was in the first place. Now that President’s Rule is imposed in J&K the BJP is talking of a muscular policy which will translate to more violence in the valley.
Why don’t political parties learn that only a conciliatory approach can bring peace to Kashmir Valley. Prolonged Governor’s rule caused alienation in the past and it is uncertain what the consequences will be this time around.
