Dost Khan
CC has been magnanimous enough to give last chance to BJP. Therefore, it is left with no option but to
deliver or get perished.
JAMMU: Rather than deriving pleasure in averting 72 hour Bandh called by the AIIMS Coordination Committee, the Bharatiya Janata Party has a reason to be worried over getting the commitment made by five out of 25 plus one MLAs fulfilled. The concern is not out of place as the saffron party has so far failed in keeping even a single promise made to the people who delivered them record seats in the Legislative Assembly late last year.
The track record of BJP in keeping up its commitments ever since the meteoric rise of Narendra Modi to premiership of the world’s largest democracy has been dismal. It rolled back over its main plank of Article 370 to please a segment of Jammu and Kashmir population. It failed in reining in Pakistan to stop terror and abetment to secessionists in carrying out seditious campaign against sovereignty of the nation. It also took a big U-turn over granting citizenship rights to refugees of West Pakistan and messed up the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to their homes and hearths in the Valley. The BJP did not only succumb over the much hyped Hindu Chief Minister but also surrendered the claim of rotational CM to keep Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his PDP in good humour. Otherwise, the two coalition parties are equally placed. If PDP has 28 members, the BJPs 25 plus one from Udhampur and two from Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference equals the rally and still the saffron party is obliged to play the second fiddle.
With such a huge credibility loss, question arises as to whether the four member BJP team led by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal K Singh and comprising Forest Minister Bali Bhagat besides MLAs Ravinder Raina, Rajesh Gupta and Sat Sharma, can stand straight to keep up the commitment made to the Coordination Committee about the decision to set up AIIMS at Jammu by 20th July. It is a tall order and a big promise made to Jammu’s civil society.
A party, which cannot stand straight before their Kashmiri bosses, will have to first take on board the Chief Minister for agreeing to setting up of the AIIMS at Jammu. The coalition partner has been very miser in supporting the demand, as if it has no stakes in the Jammu region. No leader of consequence has come forward to seek a premier medical facility for Jammu. In such a scenario, the ball is set to be pushed to the Centre, which will have to grapple with ‘blackmail’ of simultaneously sanctioning IIM and IIT for Kashmir, a full throttled demand of the PDP.
This being the scenario; will the BJP be able to translate its commitment into reality. The party has been categoric-both at the administrative and political levels to give a firm assurance over the issue, which is reflected in the letter, jointly signed by the Deputy Chief Minister and the (Forest) Minister. Despite being a confidential communication, the letter has gone viral on social media, a part of which says “…do hereby commit and confirm the setting up off (sic) AIIMS in Jammu and shall obtain appropriate orders in this regard from GOVT OF INDIA by or before 20th July, 2015”. Ironically word ‘off’ mentioned in the communication denotes ‘bumping off’ and one hopes the promise shall not fall apart. Contrary to the commitment of the Deputy Chief Minister and others, the official handout released in the evening says that the so and so informed those on Dharana that “their demand has already been taken up with the centre for early action.” This is contemptuous. Is this the demand of agitators? The BJP had created a hype over the issue, saying AIIMS had been sanctioned for Jammu; it will come up first in Jammu and then in Kashmir etc. Doesn’t BJP subscribe to this demand and leaves the issue to Coordination Committee?
Anyway, AIIMS Coordination Committee has been magnanimous enough in giving yet another chance-perhaps the last one-to the BJP, as had been done by the electors of the region by putting 25 seats into its kitty in the elections of November-December last. Now it is to be seen whether the saffron party is able to keep up its commitment. It is an uphill task but nevertheless BJP will have to deliver or else perish. It can’t take excuses. It can’t take refuge in the overall situation or pre-engagements of the Prime Minister or similar diversionary tactics. The BJP will have to work towards fulfilling the written commitment. The countdown has begun. Though the experience in keeping commitments has been poor yet the BJP will have to prove itself. Failing will entail unplugging of the ventilator, which means sure death.
