Back to the Vajpayee line

AFTER months of bloodshed and muscular assertion, the Modi government has belatedly taken a demonstratively sincere step of reconciliation towards the restive Kashmir and its people. It has appointed Dineshwar Sharma, a former director of the Intelligence Bureau, as the interlocutor with a mandate to engage with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir, not excluding the so-called separatist leadership. This is a sequel, though much delayed, to the Prime Minister’s Independence Day formulation in which he had proposed a gale lagao (embrace) solution as a way out of conflict and misery in the Valley. And it is a tad disappointing that New Delhi could not find a political face to initiate this dialogue process. 

Still, it is a major concession by Delhi to the people and parties in Kashmir that had relentlessly been seeking dialogue. They were unsparing in their criticism of Delhi, accusing it of resorting to repression. The intensified anti-terrorism operations by the Army, combined with National Investigation Agency raids on the premises of separatists and their sympathisers, and arrests of a few of the Hurriyat leaders made them feel the heat. There was deadlock, depression and desperation. The separatists have themselves to blame for the drift. They had arrogantly refused to open doors to a group of prominent parliamentarians last year. This obstinacy did not find favour with the Kashmiris who saw this as an uncivil departure from the Kashmiri ethos of hospitality and culture. 

At a time when the frenzied street violence is taking its toll, and political workers, including lawmakers, are facing life-threatening situation, a political approach was the only way out. In fact, the Army and the police leadership itself often talked of a political solution. India was under considerable international pressure to engage with the restive Kashmiri political opinion; the BJP’s own ally, the PDP was courting irrelevance because of New Delhi’s iron-fist approach. The futility of that approach was obvious but it seems that the Home Ministry had to get the Sangh Parivar on board before it could allow itself to be seen as going back to the original Atal Bihari Vajpayee line. Better late than never.