No muscular approach to Kashmir: Madhav to Mufti

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

A day after the BJP’s points-man for Jammu and Kashmir — general secretary Ram Madhav — abruptly announced his party’s break-up with the PDP, surprising state leaders and leading to a flurry of speculations, on Wednesday he went on an overdrive to dispel notions while spelling the party-led Centre’s “four-pronged approach” for the strife-torn Valley.

It’s another thing though that these four points happened to be the same that he, as the architect of the BJP-PDP alliance three years back, claimed would lead to normalcy in the state in “six months’ time”.

Today he again claimed a marked difference in the situation in a couple of months with the help of this four-pronged approach under the Governor’s rule. He also dismissed apprehensions that with Mehbooba out of the way, the Centre will follow what is now being called a “muscular” approach.

“We have not abandoned Kashmir, we have sacrificed the government for betterment of people and the larger national interest,” is the crux of what he told different media amid criticism over the BJP sidestepping its responsibilities as a partner in the state for the “increase in radicalisation and extremism”.

Largely, what Madhav aimed was to dispel the prevailing notion that the BJP will now use a “muscular” approach to re-establish its nationalist image and as a party that does not bow down to others. Obviously, the party is looking at much larger gains that the six Lok Sabha seats that the state holds. Alliance with the PDP has done the BJP more damage than any gain, expect for adding up to the statistics of the list of states it rules.

The BJP has very little to lose electorally in the state. It just has three Lok Sabha seats, two in Jammu and one in Ladakh.