After total denial for any political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir by the Modi led BJP government at the centre, a senior Congress leader and former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar this week held meetings with the top separatist leaders including Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. What makes interesting the attempt of Mani Shankar Aiyar is the role of Congress in the periodical erosion of state autonomy granted to Jammu & Kashmir state under article 370 of Indian constitution. It is Congress which started conspiring against the popular regimes of the state with the arrest of legendary Sheik Mohammad Abdullah in 1953 and was instrumental in stage managing political coups against Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah after the take over of the government with the signing of Indira-Abdullah 1975 Indira-Abdullah accord and Farooq Abdullah in mid eighties. In past Congress was instrumental in instigating political defection only to impose governments of its own will in Jammu & Kashmir. Now today when Aiyar has started an exercise for political outreach in Jammu & Kahmir none from the mainstream political parties dares to ask Aiyar that why Congress is distancing himself from his current initiative of political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir state. The attempts of some former ministers owing allegiance to both Congress and BJP are obviously attempts of reviving the mainstream politics in a hostile political atmosphere in Kashmir valley and parts of Chenab valley and Pir Panchal in Jammu region. To the utter discomfort of the former ministers of both Congress and BJP including the likes of Mani Shankar Aiyar and Yaswhant Sinha, the resentment is brewing up against the mainstream politicians who were promised skies but offered peanuts in the end. The people of Jammu & Kashmir were betrayed politically by Congress year after and decade after decade and are now denied even the right to retain existing subject laws by BJP with the overt and covert support of its ally Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Not only the words but also the deeds of former ministers of both Congress and BJP for a political outreach in Jammu & Kashhmir are doubted keeping in view their direct engagement with the process of peace and security in Jammu & Kashmir in past. So the initiatives for political engagement by the former ministers of both Congress and BJP instead of generating hopes of peace and political stability are creating doubts in hearts and minds of the people in Kashmir.
So for the separatist leaders it makes no sense to talk to the people who have largely contributed to the current crisis in Jammu & Kashmir. At a time when the mainstream politics is facing severe credibility crisis on ground the attempts of Congress men to initiate a process of political outreach in Jammu & Kashmir are doubled keeping in view the role of Congress in the erosion of democratic institutions during last seventy years of popular rule in India. It looks strange when we see NIA investigating cases against top separatist leaders and top Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar starting process of political engagements with the separatists simultaneously. So not only the words but also the deeds of former ministers of both Congress and BJP for a political outreach in Jammu & Kashhmir are doubted keeping in view their direct engagement with the process of peace and security in Jammu & Kashmir in past. So the initiatives for political engagement by the former ministers of both Congress and BJP instead of generating hopes of peace and political stability are creating doubts in hearts and minds of the people in Kashmir.
