Kashmir on the brink but ‘all’s fair in love and war’

Weeks after confidently asserting that he expected a ‘peaceful summer’ in Kashmir and that stone pelters were concentrated in a small area, BJP heavyweight and its pointsman in Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav, has conceded that the ground situation has worsened in the last six-seven months and that there is indeed a threat to the unity and integrity of India.

BJP Member of Parliament Dr Subramanian Swamy took a dig and tweeted:

In another development on Friday, the day after a billboard appeared in Meerut asking Kashmiris to leave Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked states to ensure that Kashmiris are protected.

The Home Minister’s statement was to pre-empt more Meerut-like misadventures and also meant to prevent reactions in Kashmir where thousands of migrant labour from the Indian plains find employment, as this tweet reminded people:

Kashmiris are also equally worried about the safety of Kashmiris in the rest of the country as this tweet said:

In a belated move, CRPF jawans in Kashmir were also produced before TV crews to describe how they exercised restraint in face of provocation because Kashmiris were their brothers and sisters after all. The rearguard action started after Kashmiri students were beaten up in Rajasthan.

Assistant Sub Inspector Amir Alam of CRPF told NDTV that he was heckled and beaten, but didn't react.

But both Ram Madhav and the Jammu and Kashmir Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga made it clear that BJP believed everything was fair ‘in war and love’.

While Ram Madhav said it in the context of the army using a Kashmiri civilian as a human shield, the Jammu and Kashmir minister called upon security forces to shoot the stone pelters.

“Whether they live in the country or come from Pakistan, they can only be treated with bullets. If bullets are not there, they should at least be punished, like beating them with canes. What 'azaadi' are they demanding” the minister is quoted as saying.

The minister, a BJP MLA, is said to be the main distributor of Patanjali products in the state and is believed to be negotiating the allotment of land for Baba Ramdev’s industry.

On Thursday, Ram Madhav not only conceded the situation was grim but he also seemed to be critical of the security establishment for allowing Kashmiris to kick and abuse security personnel:

• Six to seven months ago, we had Anantnag Assembly bypolls. We had 80% polling. Mehbooba won with more majority than her own father, Mufti Saheb used to get. That was the kind of climate six to seven months ago. But six months down the line, we are faced with a situation where we conducted the election in Srinagar with great difficulty, low percentage of polling. And today, the second phase of elections in Anantnag had to be postponed to sometime in May. There is definitely a change in the situation in the Valley.
• There is a challenge to the Indian state, there is a challenge to Indian national unity and integrity. Whatever violence is happening in the state is not about the state government.
• You have allowed the youth to mock the people, physically assault them. It is very unfortunate. Somewhere down the line, I blame our security establishment in its failure. Nobody can tolerate such things.