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BJP to take up Kashmir at national meet, back Centre’s hardline on separatists
BJP’s national council meeting will be held in Kerala’s Kozhikode on September 24 and 25.
The BJP will back the Centre’s hard line on Kashmiri separatists, reaffirm its position on Jammu and Kashmir and discuss the two-month-long unrest that has racked the border state at a conclave later this month.
More than 2,000 BJP leaders will gather in Kerala’s Kozhikode for the party’s national council meeting on September 24 and 25. A resolution would be moved reiterating India’s position that Kashmir was an integral part of the country, a party leader said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, too, were expected to impress upon these points, the leader said.
Seventy-five people, mostly civilians, have died in street protests in Kashmir that erupted after a militant was killed in a gunfight on July 8. Normal life remains paralysed with a curfew and separatists called strike restricting movement of people and goods.
An all-party delegation led by home minister Rajnath Singh spent two days in the Valley to assess the ground situation and find ways to restore calm.
But the separatists’ refusal to meet the delegation was the vindication of the government’s stand that the Hurriyat Conference was not interested in a dialogue to defuse the crisis, sources said.
“They stand only provoke Kashmiri youths. We cannot succumb to their pressure,” a senior minister said.
A few delegation leaders on Sunday visited Hardline separatist Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani’s home in Srinagar but were turned away.
“Some leaders junked the advice not to jump the gun and went to Hurriyat leaders’ doorsteps. They returned empty handed. This reflects that New Delhi’s approach towards a section of people in the Valley was right,” a source said.
The government, which was under pressure to send a team of politicians including those from the opposition, feels the separatist have been marginalised.
The national council meet is expected to endorse the government’s hard line and its outreach to those willing to talk. The government, said sources, would isolate the Hurriyat, which it sees as disruptive, from the dialogue process.
While the Mehbooba Mufti government has been asked to take strict action against troublemakers, the BJP resolution is expected to repose faith in her. The BJP is the junior partner in the ruling alliance led by Mufti’s People Democratic Party. The party was of the view that the chief minister had stuck to New Delhi’s line in the present crisis and should be given all the support she needed, sources said.
“She has dealt with the situation maturely. We are on the same page as far as dealing with agent provocateur is concerned,” a government source said.
Party leaders claim the Centre has walked an extra mile with all-party meetings, discussions in Parliament and the sending the delegation to the Valley. It favours continuing such measures but is in no mood for concessions to separatists.
