With January 26 approaching, the atmosphere of fear has started taking the valley into its fold. For the last twenty years the 26th of January and August 15, have seen people of Kashmir being restricted to their homes. The fear psychosis that pervades the minds of commoners for several days prior to these two events becomes visible in the empty streets of Srinagar and other district headquarters while the presence of police and other security forces is increased manifold.
In past, the threat of militant attacks would lead to the siege of entire localities particularly around Bakshi stadium, a fact deeply etched in the collective conscious of Kashmiri society, even though things eased out to some extent after the turn of the century.
The recent announcement of BJP to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk has begun to snowball into a major controversy, with the state government announcing that it opposed any such move. Bhartiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari flagged off the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra (national unity march) in Kolkata that as per party statements will conclude with the hoisting of Tricolour at the historic Lal Chowk. Meanwhile, Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik has challenged BJP saying that they would not allow the flag hoisting at Lal Chowk. The situation emerging out of this is reminiscent of 1990’s, when Murli Manahor Joshi of BJP, raising jingoistic passion unfurled the Tricolor in Lal Chowk. What happened of hapless souls of Srinagar during those three days of siege is another story.
The ideological bankruptcy, set in the party leadership of BJP, particularly on Kashmir issue is the anticlimax of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bold initiatives on Kashmir. The vitality and concern inherent in the oft repeated statement of Vajpayee on Kashmir that ‘everything would be done which is possible in the ambit of humanity’ seems to lose weight in the confrontationist attitude adopted lately by BJP leadership vis a vis Kashmir problem.
Barring Vajpayee’s tenure, when the will to solve Kashmir imbroglio was genuinely expressed, BJP’s communal and provocative stance over Kashmir is nothing more than a political gimmick rooted in the vote bank politics. The Amaranth land row controversy offered BJP an opportunity to play its sinister regional and communal politics which lead to the blockade of Srinagar-Jammu national highway for several days and it did yield them dividends. BJP secured 11 seats in the Assembly elections from Jammu.
In all this maze of petty politics, the common Kashmiris, who are yet to come out of the ache of summer troubles, are bound to suffer in the coming days.
