The silence of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders over the ongoing Kashmir turmoil is intriguing. In fact the state BJP leaders never kept a confident posture against the current turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir. It appears there is a confidence deficit between the coalition partners of BJP and PDP. We all know the ideologically different partners were never at comfort since the change of guard, after the 2014 Assembly elections, brought by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister. The result was State had odd enemies PDP-BJP as friends. Both BJP and PDP took their own time to understand and today the situation has come to the same stage once again. It looks there is some vacuum and compulsion to remain afloat which would always keep the BJP Central as well as State leadership to maintain silence to keep the coalition intact and alive. At present Mehbooba’s big challenge is to manage the situation and find ways to get out of the web of communal frenzy. Her challenge will be to continue her father’s legacy with a politics of bridge-building. Given the complexity of politics in Kashmir, militancy and cross-border terror and Pakistan equation, the controversy over the State Flag to fly side by side with the National Flag, radicalisation of youth and more youth joining the militant ranks it will be a tough task for the first time Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. It looks BJP leaders and ministers are more concerned about extracting facilities and luxuries from the government rather than reacting to the present situation which has kept the State in turmoil for the last four days and claiming more than 30 lives. Earlier, the party remained silent over the tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrims and brutal Lathicharge on non-local students of NIT Srinagar which exposed double standard of BJP leadership. It looks a deep rooted conspiracy is being hatched by some forces at the helm of affairs to sabotage the Amarnath Yatra. Here silence is no benefactor rather it can harm the interest of the party and would erode the voters’ confidence which brought the saffron party to such heights.
