‘It’s not the BJP which wants batwara’

Divya Malik Lahiri | New Delhi | 25 August 2008 |

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley who is expected to be the chairman of the party's media and publicity committee, which will play a critical role in the coming state and Lok Sabha elections, shared his views with Divya Malik Lahiri on the Amarnath crisis, demand for Azadi in Kashmir and other important issues facing the nation.

As the situation spirals out of control in Jammu & Kashmir, the government at the Centre appears to be watching helplessly. This week too, there were no signs that there has been any concrete thinking by the government on an action plan for cooling down tempers in the Valley and in Jammu.

The Congress and the government’s attitude is to wait and watch and see how the situation unfolds. All they are willing to concede is that the crisis will be handled in a way that the situation is kept under control. Sources in the Congress say this time the protests in the Valley are not violent, so the state’s response too has to be measured.

For several weeks now, Pakistani flags have been waved during protests by the separatists in the valley. The green colour was far more prominent even on Independence Day, when green flags were unfurled on the historic clock tower in Srinagar and the Indian tricolour was pulled down within seconds.

No less prominent were anti-India and pro-Pakistani slogans by hardline elements in the Hurriyat Conference like Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

But the Centre kept quiet and turned a blind eye to them. It was only when the separatists took a march to the UN office that the Congress finally woke up and condemned the move.

At the Congress’s regular briefing in the capital, party spokesperson Manish Tiwari criticised the Hurriyat for trying to internationalise the situation and denied their claim of  human rights violations in the valley. But was this criticism a case of too little too late? Sources in the Congress admit that the Centre was being seen as weak and so the statement had to be made to send out a tough message that such acts will not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, in the absence of any concrete strategy to find a solution, the two main national parties in the capital have just been indulging in a blame game.

The Congress says the BJP is trying to communalise the atmosphere  by taking out nationwide protests and by backing the Jammu movement …and has asked the opposition party to restrain the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti from indulging in activity which will inflame the situation further.

In turn, the BJP says the Congress lacks the political will to fight the separatists and that such groups should have been told that their agitation was misplaced. The BJP says the government failed to dispel the impression that there was an economic blockade and that the transfer of the disputed land would change the demography of the state.

Keen to cash in on the political mileage it could derive from the Jammu agitation, the BJP has launched nationwide protests and jail bharo agitations.

But behind the scenes, sources told CURRENT that the BJP is concerned about the impression that it is not behaving like a responsible political party.

At a meeting of BJP office-bearers, a number of leaders including Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj raised the issue that the party should show restraint and not do anything that will strengthen Pakistan and the separatists in the Valley. So it was decided that every attempt will be made to avoid an economic blockade and that a distinction will be made between the average Kashmiri and a separatist.

As a result, now senior BJP leaders have started saying that the divide is not between the Hindus and the Muslims or between Jammu and Kashmir: it’s a divide, they say, between the nationalists and separatists.

Secretly, some BJP leaders  also confessed that the fact that  Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh will not be attending the Sangharsh Samiti’s rally on August 25 is a blessing in disguise. Reason: their presence at the rally would  have given further credence to the view that the BJP is involved in inflaming passions.

The Congress for the first time condemned the Hurriyat for trying to internationalise  the Kashmir situation. Is their criticism a case of too little, too late?
I think the Centre and the Congress have faltered on three immediate accounts. One, the entire movement in the valley was based on two falsehoods, that Hindu colonisation will take place at Baltal. The government should have started a media blitz that this land was only for pilgrims, they didn’t. Second, the protest in the Valley was based on the false concoction of an economic blockade. For one week, the government didn’t counter the propaganda. Third, for 38 days the government didn’t talk to the Sangharsh Samiti. You can’t sit back and let the situation go out of control.

At separatist rallys, Pakistani flags have been waved, even on Independence Day, the  green colour was more conspicuous than the tricolour. Comment?
Sixty-one years ago, this country made the mistake of accepting separate status for Jammu and Kashmir. A political audit reveals that the journey of 60 years has been from separate status towards separatism. It is the culmination of the erroneous Nehruvian theory on Kashmir that we’re witnessing this situation. History will have to judge whether the Nehruvian theory was right or that of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Why do you think the government has failed to condemn the waving of Pakistani flags at rallies?
The Congress and the government now have a perverted notion of secularism. In the first phase: appeasement; second: being soft on terror; third: being soft on separatists.

Are we seeing the spectre of the 1990s once more?
It’s the culmination of Congress policies that we see the space for nationalists in the Valley contracting.

But don’t you agree the BJP has behaved as an irresponsible party? Don’t you think your all-India protests will communalise the atmosphere? Isn’t there need for self-restraint by the party?
Today the fight is not between communities, it is a fight between separatists and nationalists. Every political party should be on the side of nationalism.

But you don’t think your actions can communalise the atmosphere ?
We have performed as a nationalist and opposition party.

I believe in the last meeting you raised this issue that the BJP should not be seen as an irresponsible party?
We are certainly concerned about the Kashmir Valley and the people who live there, who like us are citizens of India. We must save them from the propaganda of separatism, unleashed by the separatists.

The PM in his Independence Day speech criticised the BJP indirectly for trying to divide rather than unite. Comment?
I think the PM is confused about those who want batwara: it’s the separatists who want a batwara and the Congress policies have aided that.

I believe one formula that is being discussed is that the J&K tourism department takes hold of the land, builds the pre-fabricated huts and leases them to the shrine board. Your opinion?
This is no solution. It’s not part of the government’s functions to maintain religious places and the amenities around them. It’s the SGPCs, waqf boards and shrine boards that do it. We can’t deny that right to the shrine board, merely because the separatists oppose it.

Some intellectuals like Vir Sanghvi, Swaminathan S. Aiyer and Arundhati Roy have been suggesting that a more pragmatic approach would be to give up Kashmir. Do you disagree?
India can do without Arundhati Roy, we can’t do without Kashmir. Those who have never run a system and are never likely to run a system have no accountability. The country should not pay heed to them.

You are personalising it. What about the demand per se?
India has seen so many secessionist movements. We have politically handled them, it’s the nationalist flavour which handles it. Arundhati has publicly confessed in the past that she’s ashamed to be an Indian. Obviously, Indian territory means nothing to her.

Although the BJP is on a good wicket in Delhi, your Delhi state leaders are fighting over who will be the Chief Ministerial candidate. Who will be projected?
These are speculations in the media. There is no infighting. We will decide at an appropriate time.

A few months ago, you were asked to take on that role. Why did you reject it?
No comment.

Do you think a national role is far more appropriate for you. Do you have prime ministerial ambitions?
I am enjoying my work at the moment, I will continue to do it.

 

You have helped the BJP win many states where you were in charge. But now Uttar Pradesh is your toughest assignment. How do you plan to get the party out of its current mess?
It’s tough and very challenging. We have to occupy the opposition space in UP and that is what we’re trying.

In the last one month, since the Trust Vote, Mayawati has emerged as a powerful alternative. Will her rise come at your cost, even all India?
A strong Mayawati is a cause for concern for the Congress, not the BJP.

But she can dent your hold over the Brahmin community, a trend which has been seen in the last UP elections.
I think the trend was temporary in UP. I think these castes are moving away from her – I can say that with confidence because of our field reports.