RSS mouthpiece questions Mehbooba Mufti intent for J&K peace

New Delhi: All is not well between the ruling allies in Jammu and Kashmir. In its latest edition, RSS mouthpiece Organiser has questioned chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s intention to resolve the ongoing crisis in the state, and sources in the BJP say that this is what is making the alliance more and more unstable with each passing day.

There have been more than just murmurs about strained relations between the People’s Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party recently. Some reports have, in fact, suggested that certain PDP leaders are “in touch” with the BJP to “muster support” to continue the alliance “without Mehbooba Mufti.”

The Organiser editorial asked whether Ms Mufti has the courage to resolve the crisis in the Valley, or if she will “follow the path of flip-flop as the Abdullahs did.”

Talking about “undermining the security forces” by “pseudo intellectuals”, the editorial maintains that it “is the duty of the state government to give voice and space to that silent majority which want to join the path of peace and progress.”

The RSS mouthpiece then makes it clear that to “give voice and space to the silent majority”, the state government has to have the “courage and conviction to deliver and take the necessary support from the armed forces and police machinery to deal with the frenzied mobs on the streets.”  

Despite the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ms Mufti, a section of BJP leaders talk of “undercurrents” within the coalition. Some BJP leaders say that the state government led by Ms Mufti is “not acting strongly to quell the agitations (read stone-pelters)” and that “its reluctance to take action against those targeting the security forces was emboldening the culprits.”

Suspecting a conspiracy behind the poor turn out in the recent by-elections, the RSS mouthpiece asks: “Where are those 70 per cent who cast their vote in the 2014 elections despite the call of boycott from the separatists? Why has the number come down to 7 per cent? Is it just a reaction against the present government in the state or is there something serious which the silent majority is not able to convey?”

The RSS and the BJP are convinced that a majority of Kashimiris “want peace”, but are being forced to remain silent by the “agitationists”.

Claiming that Pakistan is “behind the present unrest”, the RSS yet again pushed for abrogation of Article 370.

The editorial claimed that illegal infiltrators were helped by both, Article 370 and Article 35A. “Legal framework created by Article 370 and Article 35A give undue advantage to the illegal infiltrators,” it stated. Article 35A enables the state Assembly to define “permanent residents”, and grant them special rights and privileges.

Though the RSS mouthpiece questioned Ms Mufti’s intentions, and sources in BJP say that both the saffroniters and PDP leaders are “aware that the alliance is getting unstable with each passing day,” they felt that imposing Governor’s rule would hit both the parties hard at this juncture.

A senior BJP leader, however, said that if the Centre is forced to impose Governor’s rule, “it would hit the PDP more than it will impact the BJP.”

He said that it is in the PDP’s interest “to find a way to stay with us and run the government, with or without Mufti.”