Rajnath Singh's promise to implement PDP-BJP alliance agenda two years late; strife inside govt pushed Kashmir to edge

Srinagar: On Saturday, home minister Rajanth Singh reiterated the central government’s commitment to the implementation of agenda of alliance — a common minimum programme that was framed by the PDP and BJP before they formed the government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 — in his meeting with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Nearly over two years after the PDP-BJP dispensation took over in the state, the alliance partners are sparring over a petition before the Supreme Court on Article 35-A which prevents outsiders from owning property in the state. This is contrary to the AOA, which emphasised that a status quo will be maintained on Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional position with the Government of India. [caption id=“attachment_2857036” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of home minister Rajnath Singh. PTI[/caption] All major promises which were made in the agenda of alliance including the transfer of two hydro power projects from National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to the state as well starting talks with separatists and developing confidence building measures within the state and across the line of control (LoC) have not been taken forward either. Singh in his one-on-one meeting with Mufti recognised the need for timely implementation of the agenda of alliance, which the two leaders said “provides a definite roadmap to resolve the problems confronting the state". During the meeting, Mufti told the Union home minister that the “needs and problems of the people of the state have been recognised in the agenda of alliance and its implementation needs to be fast-paced”. Mufti had earlier asked the central government to implement the agenda of alliance, but that had not yielded any progress. Instead, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and the PDP is now worried that any decision by the Supreme Court to scrap Article 35-A will completely erode its vote bank in Kashmir. BJP has said that it will welcome the decision of the Supreme Court to abrogate Article 35-A. Sunil Sethi, chief spokesman, BJP, said, “The Article 35-A has done damage to the state. The discrimination due to the Article 35-A is not only between state subjects and non-state subjects. It is among state subjects as well. If the Supreme Court gives a decision to revoke Article 35-A that will be vindication of our stand and we will welcome it.” Sethi said that children of women from the state who get married outside can’t own property in Jammu ad Kashmir, while there was no such bar on the men who marry outside the state. The BJP stand on the abrogation of Article 35-A comes even though the party reiterated in the agenda of alliance with the PDP that “the present position will be maintained on all constitutional provisions pertaining to Jammu add Kashmir including the special status in the constitution of India.” The protection of the special status was reiterated in the agenda of alliance even though the BJP and PDP had maintained divergent stand on Article 370 during the election campaigns. While campaigning for the 2014 Assembly election, BJP leaders had accused both PDP’s Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and National Conference leaders and former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah of being corrupt politicians while raising the pitch for the abrogation of Article 370. BJP had bagged 24 seats from the Jammu region on the promise of the abrogation of Article 370 in 2014 Assembly elections while PDP had emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the December 2014 election results. The two parties took over two months to work out a common minimum programme, before Sayeed could took over as chief minister on 1 March, 2015. Noth only both PDP and BJP are fighting publicly over the protection of special status of the state, the alliance has also failed to deliver other promises in the agenda of alliance. Mufti Sayeed had described the agenda of alliance as an agenda for governance and had described the purpose of the alliance to “catalyse reconciliation and confidence building within and across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, thereby ensuring peace in the state”. However, BJP had maitained a hard stance on the political promise of starting talks with the separatists. Mehbooba as well as the separatists have been often referring to the policy adopted by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had initiated a dialogue with the political groups including the Hurriyat Conference, in what was described as “in the ambit of Insaaniyat (humanity), Kashmiriyat aur (and) Jamhooriyat (democracy)”. In the agenda of alliance, it was reiterated that the “coalition government will facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views. This dialogue will seek to build a broad consensus and resolution of all outstanding issues of Jammu and Kashmir”. The agenda of alliance also mentioned that the 390 MW Dulhasti and 480 MW Uri hydro power projects will be transferred to the state as “compensation for the use of water resources by the NHPC in the state”. But the central government ruled out transfer of the power projects, the state government has maintained that it was “actively pursuing the matter with Centre”. The PDP-BJP dispensation also promised the revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). But officials said that the matter couldn’t be pursued due to the deterioration of the security scenario in the state. The PDP and BJP had agreed that “as part of the agenda for governance of this alliance, the coalition government will examine the need for de-notifying disturbed areas, which as consequence, would enable the Union Government to take a final view on the continuation of AFSPA in these areas.” The alliance failed to make any progress on the issues mentioned in the agenda of alliance, even though a group of ministers (GOMs) was constituted during the tenure of Sayeed on April 2015 to pursue its implementation with the central government. The GOM, headed by BJP leader and deputy chief minster Nirmal Singh comprises finance minister Haseeb Drabu, law minister Abdul Haq Khan, and co-operatives minister Chering Dorje, among others. The National Conference (NC) provincial president, Nasir Aslam Wani, said that the security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir has only worsened during the PDP-BJP rule. “Of the commitments which were made in the agenda of alliance, none has been implemented. It was emphasised by PDP and BJP that they will become a bridge between India and Pakistan. Nothing has been done in that respect. It was also said that they will act as a bridge between separatist and mainstream ideology and we will get them on board for talks, but nothing has happened on that.” He added that instead of taking confidence building measures, the relationship between India and Pakistan has deteriorated. “The incidence of cross-LoC firing is more than any of the previous years. So, where is the agenda of alliance being implemented? I don’t see it anywhere,” he said. Wani said that even the commitment made to improve governance in the state has not been fulfilled. “There is no governance in the state,” he said, adding, “The PDP-BJP government has even failed to bring about transparency in the functioning of its government and the execution of developmental works is only taking longer time.”