Going soft on hardline elements? Opposition parties criticize BJP stance on PDP, Akalis

By Swati Deb Even as three heavily-armed fidayeen in army fatigues, suspected to be members of either Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), launched a pre-dawn strike in Punjab on Monday, the BJP and its allies trained their guns towards Pakistan with the refrain being that a “strong message” needs to be sent across the border. [caption id=“attachment_1628051” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal. Image courtesy- AP[/caption] “If we are hit, we will give a befitting reply,” said union Home Minister Rajnath Singh even as he briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the tragic encounter that claimed at least 8 lives including that of a senior cop. Speaking in the same vein, BJP MP R K Singh, a former union Home Secretary said, “We have to send a strong message to Pakistan that these things are not acceptable. Though, Pakistan would deny it….We have to think about how to handle Pakistan”. MPs from other parties like the BJD in Odisha also called for strong message to fight terrorism. “India should stand up to fight terrorism,” the BJD member Tathagat Sathpathy said. However, there are some who have raised questions on the kind of politics played by the BJP and its allies in Punjab (Akali Dal) and Jammu and Kashmir (PDP). Making a veiled reference to the alleged soft approach taken lately against terror and hardline elements in Jammu and Kashmir – ostensibly at the instance of PDP, whom BJP supports in J&;K, CPI(M) Lok Sabha member Mohammed Salim said “the kind of politics in Punjab and J&;K is also responsible”. “We are one in condemning this terrorist attack….. But the question is the kind of politics we have in Jammu and Kashmir and in Punjab today. This has resulted in the resurgence of the terrorist groups,” said the Marxist MP from Raiganj in West Bengal. He said, “The government has to be blamed for this. It must come out with facts about what is happening in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Why has there been a resurgence of terrorism?” Speaking in a similar vein, Biju Janata Dal MP from Odisha, Tathagata Sathpathy said “……terrorism is back with full force. Not only are the flags of ISIS flying high all over Jammu and Kashmir, but there is also a threat. The threat is perceptible. The threat is right here in the country.” Both the lawmakers tried to implicate the BJP on its alleged soft approach towards the PDP, with whom the saffron party is sharing power in Jammu and Kashmir. From time to time security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have been alarmed over the appearance of masked men waving flags and banners of ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) and Al Qaeda on the streets of Srinagar. On itself, 12 youths were identified by police in the state for raising ISIS flags. “This should be more embarrassing for the BJP as the party and their prime minister Narendra Modi had announced zero tolerance towards terrorism,” N Agarwal, a Samajwadi MP told Firstpost. The Akali-BJP government in Punjab too has been under attack for pandering to Sikh hardliners and often ignoring intelligence warnings about deepening alienation of the youth not just in Jammu and Kashmir but also in Punjab. As hardliner Sikhs have been making all sorts of demands in Punjab lately, the death sentence on terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was commuted to life imprisonment. Further, even overseas Sikhs had marched in London and Canada against the attack by the then government on the Golden Temple to flush out Bhindranwale and others in 1984. At the political level too, there have been serious differences between the BJP and the Akali Dal and a section of state unit of saffron party has expressed a desire to shun the partnership with the Akalis. However, none other than Shiromani Akali Dal chief and Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said earlier this month, “Akali and BJP were together, we are together and will be in future as well. We will fight the next state elections in 2017 together”. The Badal government had also taken and facilitated several controversial decisions like shifting of terrorism-linked Sikh prisoners from jails outside Punjab to prisons within the state. The 87-year-old Badal, the country’s oldest serving CM also had said recently, “I will be the guarantor of peace and communal harmony in the state till my last breath”.