Political Correspondent
JAMMU: Ever since 1st March, when the ideologically poles apart PDP and BJP formed Coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir and made public their “Agenda of Alliance”, the concerned citizens of the State have been questioning their agenda, saying it contains everything that promotes the cause of Pakistan in the State and accords respectability to the “Kashmiri Muslim sub-nationalism”. They have also been claiming that there is nothing whatsoever in the agenda that caters to their needs and appreciates their compulsions and aspirations. The general view in the nationalist camp in the State is that the “Agenda is almost a carbon-copy of PDP self-rule document, Dixon Plan, Kathwari solution and former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s five-point break-India Kashmir solution”. In fact, they have been invariably asking certain questions to the BJP and its point-man Ram Madhav, BJP National General Secretary, while discussing the ‘Agenda of Alliance’.
Some of the very important questions which relate to the unity and integrity of India as well as the territorial integrity of Jammu province are:
1. What does the BJP mean by seeking a ” national reconciliation on J and K” and empowerment of the Coalition Government to “catalyse” reconciliation and confidence building within and across the Line of Control (LoC) in J and K thereby ensuring “peace” in the State? They say national reconciliation means dilution of the 67-year-old Indian stand on the State, appreciation of the Pakistani interests in the State and recognistion of separatists as a very important factor in the State’s political situation.
2. Why did the BJP abandon its decades old ideology and agree to appreciate and endorse the perception of PDP and other Kashmiri parties, including National Conference, Congress and CPI-M, on the existing “constitutional status of J and K” that is essentially Kashmir-centric and separatist-friendly and maintain status quo on all the constitutional provisions pertaining to J and K including the “special status” in the Constitution of India? They say the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region and Kashmiri Hindus had not voted the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections for the maintenance of the anti-India and anti-Jammu and anti-Ladakh status quo. They had voted for the State’s full political and constitutional integration into India and empowerment of neglected regions of the State and its minorities, they say.
3. What does the BJP mean by empowering the PDP-BJP coalition to take initiatives to “create a reconciliatory environment and build stakes for all in the peace and development within the sub-continent”? Note and underline the word sub-continent.
4. Why did the BJP agree to recognise Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference as “external and internal stakeholders” and what does it mean by tackling the issues facing the State “in the spirit of Insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat aur Jamhooriyat”? Has the BJP decided to drive the State away from India , and throw the lot of the minorities in the State with fanatics and Pakistan and Pakistani agents in Kashmir?, they have also been asking the BJP. They say India is the only stakeholder in the State.
5. What does the BJP mean by Kashmiriyat and why it thought it was not desirable to include in the Agenda of Alliance secular, liberal and all-accommodating concepts of Dogriyat and Ladakhiat? Why did the BJP insult Dogriyat and Ladakhiat?, they have been asking the BJP.
6. What does the BJP mean when it agrees with the PDP to “facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders which will include all political groups, irrespective of their ideological views and predilections”? What exactly does it mean by “meaningful dialogue”?, they have been asking the BJP to know if it doesn’t consider J and K a settled issue.
7. Why the BJP did a complete U-turn by agreeing with the PDP to “examine the need and desirability of all the special laws, including AFSPA, being applied to the State” and agreeing to “de-notify disturbed areas” knowing it fully well that the security environment in the State in general and militant-infested Kashmir in particular was highly volatile? Has the BJP decided to give full freedom to terrorists and separatists in Kashmir to conduct their anti-national activities so that the State goes out of India?
8. Why did the BJP ditch people of Jammu province by agreeing to establish AIIMS in Kashmir when the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had already announced in the Lok Sabha on 28th February that the AIIMS will be established in Jammu?
9. Why did the BJP make common cause with the PDP and take a U-turn on the issue of West Pakistan refugees? Why did it go back on its promise that the BJP, if voted to power, grant citizenship rights to these hapless refugees? Why did it let down them? Are they not citizens of the State and Indian nationals? Did the BJP reject their demand just because they are not Muslims?
10. Why did the BJP go back on its promise that it, if voted to power, will constitute a Delimitation Commission to ensure adequate representation to Jammu in the Legislative Assembly?
Why did it endorse the PDP line that the Coalition Government would constitute a Delimitation Commission for the delimiting of Legislative Assembly Constituencies as required by law?
The agreement between the PDP and the BJP means no delimitation of Assembly constituencies till 2035 and that too is subjected to the condition that the government that would be in place in the State after the 2031 census operation agreed to amend the Representation of People’s Act to nullify the February 2002 anti-democratic Amendment that was also supported by all the BJP MLAs in their bid to oblige the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.
11. What does the BJP mean by “fiscally autonomous State” of Jammu and Kashmir? Has the BJP planned to declare Jammu and Kashmir a Republic within the Indian Republic
12. Where is this Chenab Valley region located in the State? It doesn’t exist either in Jammu province or in Ladakh region or in Kashmir.
13. Similarly, where is the Pir Panjal region? Pir Panjal is a mountain range which transcends the entire erstwhile Doda District and parts of Poonch and Rajouri Districts. It is the votaries of Grater Kashmir who have been describing Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar Districts as Chenab Valley region and Poonch-Rajouri belt as Pir Panjal region. Their objective is to de-link these areas from Jammu and integrate them into Kashmir and establish their control over the precious Chenab waters.
Will Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is here in Jammu today to address party workers, instead of the people of Jammu as decided earlier because of Bandh in the entire Jammu province, answer these questions to set the record straight and allay fears and apprehensions of the concerned citizens of the State and the Indian nation as a whole?
