Shedding a tasteless sin

Mohammad Sayeed Malik. Dated: 6/21/2018 10:50:13 AM

SRINAGAR, Jun 20: Only an Urdu phrase—gunnah e be-lazzat (tasteless sin)---can effectively characterize the incompatible relationship between the PDP and the BJP which the latter unilaterally walked out from on Tuesday, leaving its alleged senior partner to lick the wounds of their unwept separation.
By all account, this decision of the BJP is rooted in its ‘2019’ poll strategy. Issues framed in the aftermath of the dramatic announcement in New Delhi by Ram Madhav, to the utter surprise of the PDP, give out the design: ‘Jammu and Ladakh regions were suffering discrimination, Kashmir was getting out of hand and needed tough treatment and the overall situation was deteriorating dangerously’. This part of the text is straight out of the BJP’s well known political lexicon (for and in J&K) since decades.
The brazenness with which the party in power at the centre sought to absolve itself of any blame in the failures of its coalition in the state, while lambasting the PDP, smacked of betrayal. So much so that even the chief minister had no clue of what was about to hit her.
If the Mehbooba-headed coalition was really discriminating against Jammu and Ladakh and it was a hindering security operations in Kashmir why did the central government wait for three long years and let its moral obligation go to sleep?
Retrospectively it looks as though the truth and honesty were put to sleep when the BJP offered to extend legislative support to an ideologically inimical partner in 2014 and again when its freak child was sought to be disowned.
As of now it looks that the state would remain under Governor’s rule under Section 92 of J&K Constitution that limits its duration to six months. Assembly will not be dissolved immediately after it is suspended by Governor NN Vohra. Attempts are already underway to ‘explore’ desertions from the PDP and then with the support of Peoples Conference leader Sajjad Lone resurrect a viable contraption until the next assembly poll due two years later.
PDP is demoralized, more by the suddenness of the event than the shock of its unceremonious exit. Mehbooba tried her best not to show it while facing her partymen and later in her interaction with the media. But the gloomy faces around her gave out the secret.
From what I know of her, Mehbooba will not take too long to recover and be back on her feet. How much room she can then find to maneuver in the Valley’s extremely harsh political climate only the time can tell. Coalition with the BJP has robbed the PDP of its homeground (South Kashmir) which is also in the grip of fierce alienation. Also, how much of her present flock ultimately is left to go along with her cannot be guessed at this stage. In any case, things are not going to be the same for the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed whose quest for ‘joining the South Pole with North Pole’ has been smashed and lies in ruins. This ‘Polar’ nightmare stares Mehbooba right in her face, with the BJP’s contemptuous parting kick to their joint venture.
The PDP is stunned. How, when and in which shape and size it would eventually emerge only the time can tell. Poaching of its MLAs has already started. Political ground is too hot even to step upon.
For the BJP, putting up a hard face on Kashmir has become an unavoidable necessity with the recent series of electoral setbacks across the country. None of its favourite polarizing issues appear to be of much help in shoring up its fortunes. No surprise the party leadership fell for ‘Kashmir’ with all its tantalizing electoral appeal. And it also sells in the electoral market.
But if the BJP is also aiming to regain its lost ground in Jammu (from where its 25 assembly seats in the 2014 elections catapulted it into power for the first time) it is mistaken. Rampant corruption by its ministers in the coalition and their poor performance on the administrative front has drastically lowered the BJP’s stock value on its home ground. Probability is that the party might be compelled to pull out its old weapons of divisive politics (regional discrimination, Muslim/Kashmir domination, Rohingiya etc) to salvage its electoral fortune, against stiff challenge mainly from the Congress.
However, it might not be as easy for the BJP to harvest any worthwhile electoral gain in Kashmir region even as it can count upon some gains in rest of the country out of its ‘hard face’ on the security front. As of now its prospect of regaining the leverage to decide who it would partner with to return to the power in the state appear doubtful.
In Kashmir, the political climate is so vitiated that even the third contender for power, National Conference, is finding it suffocating to go out and mobilise public opinion. Besides, alienation on the ground is as deep and as wide as it was in the 1990s when poll percentage was shamefully too low.
On the security side, one really wonders as to how the security forces operational capability is going to improve with the change of political guard at the top. There was no perceptible obstruction from civilian side and, in any case, the forces in action simply do not brook any deviation or obstruction. ‘Giving a free hand’ to them is no doubt a catchy slogan but practically it means nothing for, they have always had a free hand in such matters. It was so even during the so-called Ramazan ceasefire break. Political outfit at the top in Kashmir has also learnt to live with this extra-constitutional superiority of security forces. So to expect that under the governor’s rule or any other dispensation something miraculous is going to happen on the security front would be foolhardy.
If anything a political buffer, good bad or indifferent has always been considered to be a wiser course.

 

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