Interview with Rajnath Singh, BJP president.
THE problem in Jammu and Kashmir is the creation of the UPA government.... Since they have created the problem, they will have to find a solution, BJP president Rajnath Singh said in an interview to Frontline. Excerpts:
What, according to you, is the solution to the crisis?
The only way out is for the UPA government to follow the rule of law. Implementation of the High Court order on allowing the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to create facilities for pilgrims and tough handling of separatist forces is the only solution. This problem has been created unnecessarily by the UPA government, which played into the hands of separatist forces. The Ghulam Nabi Azad government had only tried to follow the Shrine Board Act and the High Court order in giving land to the Shrine Board. By reversing that order, Governor N.N. Vohra and the UPA government knelt down before the separatists, ignoring the sentiments of the people in Jammu, and this fuelled the agitation.
But the Congress is accusing the BJP and former Governor S.K. Sinha of creating false impressions that provoked the protests in Kashmir.
The BJP was nowhere on the scene when agitations broke out in Jammu. The agitation there was a spontaneous outpouring of resentment by the people of Jammu who felt ignored by the Central government. The BJP is not leading the agitation in Jammu, it is the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, which has more than 40 organisations in it. Was it not the governments responsibility to explain to the people in Kashmir that the land transfer was only for the duration of the yatra?
Will this be an election issue?We certainly dont want to make it an election issue. But, naturally, we will talk about the Congress policy of vote bank appeasement. The Congress has been following a policy of cultural terrorism ever since it came to power in 2004. The simple issue of providing facilities for Amarnath pilgrims has been allowed to snowball into a major crisis just because the separatists opposed it. Instead of taking action against separatists, the UPA government is cracking down on people protesting peacefully.
Has the Jammu-versus-Kashmir divide reached a stage that will make a solution difficult to work out?
No, that is not true. The divide has always been there because successive Central and State governments have neglected Jammu in order to please the people of Kashmir. Yet, the divide can be bridged if the government follows a non-discriminatory approach. Let it address the problems of people in all the three regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Even in Kashmir there are nationalist elements, but their voices have been drowned. One has to understand why people in Jammu are agitated. Without convening a meeting of the Shrine Board, the Governor cancelled the Azad governments land transfer decision and asked the government to provide facilities for pilgrims.
What is the solution now?The only solution is for the land to be restored to the Shrine Board.
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