BLUNT BUTCHER
SHAME FOR POWER
JAMMU: What an anti-climax for the super nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party; that too on Kashmir turf, the land it nurtured (and exploited) for the past seven decades as shinning symbol of Indian nationhood? For lust of power, Shyama Prasad Mukerjee’s outfit is all set to take long and hasty strides to jeopradise security and compromise national interest by placating Peoples Democratic Party, just to sit in cradle of power again in Jammu and Kashmir. And, ironically, the effort is being supplemented by Governor N. N Vohra, who not only is supervising one of the key provisos of Agenda of Alliance to be implemented forthwith but also delayed the dissolution of Legislative Assembly after the PDP-BJP duo mocked at his invitation to form the government.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee laid his life in the Valley for full integration of Kashmir with rest of India by realizing the dream of Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Pradhan but Narendra Modi’s BJP is hell bent on belittling the supreme sacrifice of his party’s founder to have his bunch of legislators in Jammu and Kashmir to roam around with two flags on their cars.
Frustrated over government formation getting delayed, the BJP has succeeded in playing a trick through proxy to woo PDP. After luring speech of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament about speedy implementation of projects in Kashmir (read Jammu and Kashmir), the Governor has made the Northern Army Commander agree to hand over (i) 16.30 acres of state land held by it adjoining the Campus of Jammu University; (ii) 212 acres of land held by it at Tatoo Grounds, Srinagar; (iii) 456.60 kanals of land at High Grounds, Anantnag; (iv) land held at lower Khurba Thang in Kargil.
The army also agreed that in so far as land at the lower Plateau Khurba Thang would be taken over before 31st March when Chief Secretary visits Kargil, as Chairman of the Committee set up to deal with all Army Key Location Plan matters. As regards the land at (i), (ii) and (iii) these would be handed over before 31st March 2016. Regarding the Tatoo Ground Land the Governor and Army Commander will jointly visit the site, before 31st March, to also discuss certain proposals regarding the utilisation of this land for creating a park, recreational facilities for youth, etc.
So far so good! A grand strategy to erase foot-prints of the army, a demand being pursued vigorously by the secessionists and soft-secessionists in the so-called mainstream camp! The BJP can take pride in being a facilitator.
This was expected as the BJP had agreed to surrender and succumb one year ago when Mufti Mohammed Sayeed led the first PDP-BJP Government in pursuance of Agenda of Alliance (AoA).
One of the key components of the AOP is a sub-para in Political Initiative segment. It reads, “All lands other than those given to the security forces on the basis of lease, licenses and acquisition under the provision of the Land Acquisition Act shall be returned to the rightful legal owners, except in a situation where retaining the lands is absolutely imperative in view of a specific security requirement. In any case, monetary remuneration, be it in the form of rents or compensation should be made fairly at market rates”.
The PDP has all the reason to smile. A stinging smile at the BJP! Muscular Modi’s BJP was asked by the PDP to bow but it started crawling. If it is land today, it will be sending back the army to barracks tomorrow, so as to cleanse the Valley from the forces! To clip their wings and to morally downgrade the army, the Centre does not seem to be hesitant in weakening the Armed Forces Special Powers Act by repealing it in a phased manner.
The BJP is proving everybody, including the tweeter savvy former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrong. He had misunderstood silence of Mehbooba Mufti as eagerness of PDP to form the government. He preferred to take a jibe by asking whether BJP will insist Mehbooba Mufti to say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. In his wildest dreams, Omar Abdullah would not have thought BJP yelling ‘Jai Ho PDP’ instead.
