Back to the brink

The BJP’s decision to pull the rug from under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s feet signals an unfortunate demise of the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir at a time when the state is staring at an abyss of escalating violence. It marks the withdrawal of political stakes by the ruling party at the Centre which can only lead to more stridency and hardening of stated positions. The political binaries that had been blurred by the BJP’s alliance with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the formation of an alliance government in the State have become marked again. What it translates into is that the processes of dialogue, mediation and moderation required for a political solution to Kashmir have been abandoned. India is once again looking at Kashmir only through a militaristic prism. The beleaguered Mehbooba Mufti, who has lost all her political capital and credibility in the Valley by first aligning with the BJP and then failing to maintain even a semblance of normalcy in the State, would have no option but to return to her semi-separatist shrillness. For the BJP, withdrawal from the State government is a clear signal to its cadre in general and in Jammu in particular to ratchet up uber nationalist rhetoric.

It is not hard to see the political reasoning behind the BJP’s move. The party’s General Secretary Ram Madhav spelt it out in so many words when he said the rise in “radicalism” in the Valley, a development for which he solely blamed Mehbooba Mufti, is one of the reasons for his party pulling out from the J&K government. Kashmir is torn by violence for which the BJP would like no responsibility and firm up its position in an election year as the advocate of the ‘Strong State’. But while the entire blame for what is happening in Kashmir — the killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari and his security personnel, the lynching and killing of as many as eight policemen in the month of Ramadan, the escalating violence and counter strikes by the security forces — is being laid at Mufti’s doorstep, the BJP cannot shrug off all responsibility. The ruling party has to shoulder equal blame for not working towards a political solution, a hope that had surged after Mufti Mohammed Sayeed stitched up a seemingly impossible alliance in the aftermath of a fractured mandate where Jammu voted for the BJP and the Valley voted largely for the PDP. The BJP’s inability to reach out to all stakeholders in the Valley as well as the lack of a coherent Pakistan policy have taken their toll on the Valley. The Centre’s efforts, be it the announcement of an unilateral ceasefire or the appointment of an interlocutor, were too little and too late.

Kashmir is facing a dangerous situation. It may help the BJP politically to use strong arm tactics in the Valley. But, as painful past experience has shown, the military does not offer a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem.

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