Power Without Purpose: Time For BJP To Exit Jammu And Kashmir Coalition

When it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) own nationalism is on test. It is all right for a political party to seek power but in J&K it is in government as a junior partner and not necessarily in power. In fact, the actions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suggest that its agenda is quite the opposite of what any national party would want: support for the armed forces in its deadly fight to eliminate Islamic militancy and return the state to a modicum of normality from where normal political processes can take over.

The Army is doing its bit despite the unhelpful attitude of the Mehbooba Mufti-led state government, which cannot make up its mind on whether to run with the terrorist hares or hunt with the law and order hounds. This attitude is exemplified by its notorious decision to charge an Army group which fired in self-defence against a stone-pelting mob for murder while pretending that this is about improving the morale of the army itself. If at all it wanted to check whether the two civilian deaths were the result of a trigger-happy group of armymen or genuine self-defence, it could have at least instituted a probe before filing an FIR alleging intent to murder by the Army. That it plunged headlong into an accusation of murder shows that the PDP is playing deadly politics in order to appease the Kashmiri separatists who partly helped it become the single largest party after the last election.

The BJP, which swept Jammu on the promise of ending the discrimination against J&K's Hindu majority province, has so far played second fiddle to PDP's soft separatism, and its own agenda of doing justice to Jammu has taken a backseat. Worse, it is now in danger of inadvertently abetting Mufti's agenda of stoking Kashmiri separatism just when the Army – at high cost – is pushing the separatists into a corner.

Whether it is about separatism, the settlement of Rohingyas in Jammu, the Army's role in curbing militancy, or even the party's core Jammu economic agenda, the BJP has got nothing from Mehbooba Mufti. So what is the logic of staying hitched to the PDP when it has nothing to show for it? Leave alone the abolition of Article 370, the BJP is nowhere near achieving even insignificant portions of its remaining agenda.

The BJP fears a loss of face if it abandons its quest for power in J&K as a failure. But it is better to acknowledge failure when there is still time to redeem its agenda before 2019 than to pretend all is well when it is obvious to everybody that it is not.

Mufti's decision to follow a separatist agenda is proof that it is also slipping badly in the Valley. As things stand the PDP will lose the valley and the BJP will slip badly in Jammu if elections were held today. The partnership is doomed. It is a lose-lose for both parties. It is better for the BJP to pull the plug now rather than wait for Mufti to do so and claim martyrdom in the name of Kashmiri separatism.

Instead, the BJP should exit the coalition and claim it is sacrificing power in order to deliver justice to Jammu and to defeat jihadi separatism. Why is it waiting for a slap from PDP before doing so?

Power without purpose is the worst form of self-delusion and totally self-destructive too.