Soon after being sworn in as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed made his intentions clear: he supports Pakistan and the jihadists it promotes. He said, “I want to say this on record and I have told this to the Prime Minister that we must credit the Hurriyat, militant outfits for the conduct of Assembly elections in the state.”
The BJP reaction: “We will not compromise national security.”
That the Mufti’s reaction was not a case of a slip of tongue became evident by subsequent remarks and actions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). PDP president Mehbooba Mufti supported the statement made by her father and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister. “I stand by the remarks made by Mufti Sahib. He is not a person who makes a remark and later denies having made it.”
The BJP reaction: “We will not compromise national security.”
The BJP dissociated itself with the Mufti’s thanks-giving remarks. Did it ask the Chief Minister, who is in office because of the BJP support, to withdraw the statement? Didn’t the saffron party find his stated views traitorous, so vile as to break the alliance? Keep guessing, but the BJP reaction was familiar: “We will not compromise national security.”
PDP members demanded that the remains of the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged, be brought back to the Valley. “Our party has given a statement that the mortal remains of Afzal Guru should be brought back to the state. We stand firm on our demand,” PDP MLA Mohammad Khalil Band said.
The BJP reaction: “We will not compromise national security.”
The PDP freed Masarat Alam Bhat, a notorious terrorist responsible for over 100 deaths in the state.
The BJP reaction: “We will not compromise national security.”
The PDP said that the decision to release Masarat was taken during the 49-day Governor’s Rule in the state, thus implying that it was the Central government that was responsible for the action. The BJP has not refuted the PDP statement but has asserted the nth time: “We will not compromise national security.”
The PDP wanted the BJP to give up its demand for the abrogation of Article 370 for the sake of the alliance. The saffron party has duly complied, along with the assertion: “We will not compromise national security.”
The PDP wanted that India should restart dialogue with Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference. This despite the fact that Islamabad continues to take action against the criminals like Hafiz Sayid, Lakhvi, and Dawood Ibrahim, and remains determined to export terror to our country—the facts vociferously pointed out by BJP leaders over the years. But the BJP has obeyed meekly to the PDP. It didn’t forget, however, to remind anybody who is listening: “We will not compromise national security.”
The PDP, having decided to perpetuate its anti-national agenda with impunity, comes up with one outrage after the other. The self-proclaimed nationalist party tolerates and acquiesces to every impropriety its ally does in Jammu & Kashmir—and keeps chanting the mantra: “We will not compromise national security.” As if the mantra would dispel the clouds that have surrounded its patriotism. The saffron party’s spokespersons shout in TV shows; they loudly boast about their nationalist credentials. The problem, however, is that people judge political parties by their actions rather than rhetoric. And the BJP’s actions scarcely suggest that it is pursuing a policy that would bring peace, development, and prosperity in the trouble-torn state.
In the ultimate analysis, the BJP’s Kashmir policy is not only indicative of the party’s moral hollowness, as we just noticed, but also intellectual bankruptcy. On the face of it, the flirtation with the PDP, and tolerance of the latter’s treasonable proclivities, seems predicated upon the belief that, if sympathetically co-opted and properly engaged, separatist groups can be brought to the national mainstream. The insurgent groups in the North East and Dravidian parties are examples and precedents.
The fatal flaw in this line of thinking pertains to the fundamental premise—that the so-called Azaadi movement in the Valley is about regional autonomy. It is not; actually, it is a jihadist movement masquerading as secessionism. Interestingly, separatists have made their ultimate goals very clear—Islamic state, Shariat, et al. The BJP, unfortunately, is either incapable or unwilling to see the elephant in the room. So, for Ram Madhav, the former RSS apparatchik and now a prominent BJP leader, the Masarat Alam case “is just an issue of a release and we have expressed our disapproval.” Is it the apogee of cavalierness or downright ignorance? An architect of the BJP-PDP alliance dismisses the freeing of a terrorist as “just an issue”!
Chanting the mantra, “we will not compromise national security,” the BJP is strengthening and empowering the forces of treason and jihad in the Valley. We only hope that the BJP is just stupid and uneducated in its dealing with the PDP and is not being manipulated by Islamabad and Washington.