November 21, 2024

It took Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with Mehbooba Mufti to bring BJP to its senses. Immediately, senior minister Nitin Gadkari was sent to Srinagar to control things. The BJP has been prevaricating over supporting Mehbooba as CM in the wake of her father and chief minister Mufti Sayeed’s death. The state has been put under Governor’s rule as Mehbooba did not want to take oath before the mourning period was over. The BJP should keep in mind that the alliance is with PDP and it should support whoever is elected as the legislative party leader by that party. There should be no pre or counter conditions. Apart from the death of Sayeed, nothing else has changed in the alliance equation for the BJP to rock the boat. If the new CM does not adhere to the alliance guidelines, things could be sorted out later.

The mandate in J & K was clear. Both BJP and the PDP had won well, the former in Jammu region while the latter in the Valley. Hence, it was good that after a lot of near misses, both parties could stitch an alliance and govern the state. If anything is done to sabotage the alliance now, it would be disastrous. The state has been governed well in the last one year. The talks with Pakistan are moving ahead. Any political turmoil in J & K now will allow the separatists to assert themselves again and vitiate the atmosphere.

The first and foremost stand of the BJP should be for the people of J & K and not for its own short term political gain. Since PDP has the support of the people in the Valley and there is a sympathy wave for Mehbooba, the alliance should work to consolidate its hold on the electorate. The BJP will be spoiling things if it indulges in any hanky-panky. India needs a peaceful and stable J & K to win back the peoples’ confidence and have a strong hand when negotiating with Pakistan. Political turmoil in the state is not going to achieve that.