Banking on its Hindu support from the southern part of the state, BJP came to power emerging as the party with the highest vote share and thus a good say in the PDP-BJP coalition. BJP juggernaut was winning every other state, but Kashmir was different. It was special. A controversial union with the Indian dominion has been the base of a series of varying opinions about the country. Be it the military intervention, weak political framework, corruption, lack of developmental measures and majorly interferences from across the border, the state is generally left burning. Separatist ideology is rooted there.
All eyes were on the nationalist themed BJP, and it’s policies to have an effect there. With a bipolar government at the helm of affairs, with 2 coalition partners broadly representing the Hindus and the Muslims, or the Jammu region and the Kashmir region, indecisiveness was a risk.
Kashmir has always been a leaky border state, infiltration is a daily routine. Could the BJP government have helped control that? The vocal and over the board support for the army did help and army was given a free hand in it’s actions at the border. Cross border actions didn’t stop, but reactions had a staunch support from the central and the state government.
But the bigger question, did the internal situation improve?
Sadly, the answer is no. The government at the centre and the state has failed, massively, to curb the radical elements of the society. The situation has gotten worse in the last few years. Recurrent episodes of stone pelting on the army, kidnapping of the relatives of those working with the government and brutal killing of army and police men were highlights on the news every other day.
While the mainstream media blasted the miscreants, labelling them as anti nationals even, Kashmir felt further alienated from the mainland. The sense of inclusivity failed to take a shape. The message that they are us and we are them couldn’t propagate. The government might term those protesting on the streets as ‘brainwashed, swayed individuals’ but the fact remains that it failed to protect those same people from getting brainwashed. Failure looming at all fronts. So is it really then? Valley too hot to handle for the BJP?
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