BJP to warm up to separatists for negotiations

[ejazr]

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ws110411KASHMIR.asp

The parallel process will invite separatists for negotiations

Iftikhar Gilani
New Delhi

Not happy with the work of the government-appointed panel of interlocutors on Kashmir, the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced the launch of a parallel four-month-long dialogue mission for restoring peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Former BJP President Rajnath Singh will lead this team, which will include four other senior BJP leaders: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shahnawaz Hussain, Maya Singh and JK Jain. They will present the report of the group in the Lok Sabha to pressure the government for taking action on it.

Party spokesperson Hussain, who is also in the committee, said that the members will visit the state from time to time to engage various sections of the society into a dialogue for a credible solution. He said that such a solution cannot come from the government-sponsored dialogue process.

The team will first make two-day visit to Jammu and then travel to Srinagar. It will send invites to both mainstream political parties and separatists, besides talking to people from different walks of life, including lawyers, social activists and educationists.

"We welcome various shades of opinion in Kashmir, including the separatists, for unconditional talks within the ambit of the Indian constitution," said BJP national general secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda, who is also in-charge of this team.

Ironically, when some members of an all-party delegation that visited the Kashmir valley last September had deviated from the schedule to meet separatist leaders, the BJP had criticised them.

Nadda said that the BJP wants to get feedback from Kashmir and put across the ground realities and genuine aspirations of the people to the entire country. He said that the separatists groups of valley, political parties in coalition government as well as the civil society groups are welcome to be the part of the study group. "We will hear the separatists, the PDP, the National Conference and other groups," he maintained.

Interestingly, the BJP leader described Jammu and Kashmir issue as a "political problem", saying that it needs a "political solution".

 

[Rage]

Pragmatic Euphony at work again.

There is an ever narrowing world of difference between the BJP's policy <in practice> and the Congressi's policy on a lot of things.

I don't know if that is an indication of a 'stable', maturing democracy; the influence of external politics impinging on domestic ones or simply a reality that no two players can have extremely divergent views on n'tnl-security issues in a nuclearised neighborhood? My feeling is that it's all three: with the second playing the weightier role.

 

[ejazr]

^^ I think its more of a reverting to Vajpayee's vision of Kashmir which they belatedly found out resonated widely with Kashmiris. You talk to Kashmiris and for them the top political leader was Vajpayee, not Indira, Rajic, Sonia or Manmohan. As a major opposition group, it would be welcome to see what they will come up with as a solution to Kashmir's political problem. In the end when the time comes to resolve the issue, the opposition will aslo have to support it in some way. Ofcourse, this doesn't mean that the BJP will stop its Congress bashing anytime soon though


State govt responsible for apathy of Kashmiris: BJP
http://www.indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/newsDetails140411q.php
Srinagar, Apr 14 (IBNS) Holding the state as well as the central government responsible for the 'deplorable' condition of Kashmiris, senior leader of India's main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said that the state government of Jammu and Kashmir has let loose a reign of terror and people in the Valley have been suffering at the hands of them.

In an exclusive chat with IBNS, the veteran leader and present MP said that the people, who meet the six-member BJP delegation during their stay in Srinagar, termed the present state government as a 'total failure'.

"There is no development. The government cares a fig for the common people and it does whatever it likes without taking people into confidence. I was aghast to see the deplorable condition of the people," Hussain said.

While replying to a question, Hussain said that Kashmiri youths have been suffering outside and especially in those states where Congress party is in power.

"Kashmir youths living in those states where Congress is at the helm of affairs are being humiliated and harassed just because they are Kashmiri. The Congress party has a dual policy and there is hell of difference between its actions and deeds," Hussain told IBNS.

"BJP has done a lot for Kashmir and whatever development has taken place in this part is during the rule of BJP. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaye did a lot for Kashmir. He was a hope for the people living over here. What has Congress done?" he said.

He said that BJP 'truly' wants to work for the people of Kashmir and wants to relieve them from their sufferings.

"Jammu and Kashmir is the crown of India and we have to add to its beauty by winning the confidence of the people living over here. Our party really wants to address the problems of the people and made them believe that they matter a lot for India. If we harass and torture them then we can't win their hearts.

"The policy adopted by the present state government is the policy of alienation and the approach of the central government is not appropriate," Hussain said.