When earlier in his term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited J&K, it generated some excitement in anticipation of a possible announcement he might make about a political outreach towards Kashmir. All such hopes have been bitterly belied. The visits for all the hype surrounding them have turned out to be a bland affair. They have largely been about inaugurating the development works and little else. In his speeches too, the PM has only talked about the development.
His latest visit to the state was no different. It was again about inaugurating the development projects, this time in all three regions of the state, among them laying the foundation stone of a university at Ladakh. The PM made speeches too but all of them were geared to play to his constituency in the rest of the country. He spoke about breaking the back of the militancy in Kashmir and the surgical strikes against Pakistan. He spoke about bringing Kashmiri Pandits back. He reiterated his support to the controversial citizenship bill whereby Hindus and some selective minorities from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will be granted citizenship rights in India. But he had no word of empathy for the suffering in Kashmir, let alone extend a political outreach to the state.
The PM is on the stump. The mood of the people and the opinion polls show that the BJP is unlikely to secure the majority on its own. The SP-BSP unity in Uttar Pradesh is likely to deny the BJP the free run it had in the last general elections. And if the BJP’s tally goes down remarkably in the state, it will substantially detract from the seat total of the party. This has made the the saffron party very conscious about its politics. It has resorted to populism to mobilize public support. The budget was an example of this. The government offered sops to farmers and middle class in a bid to woo them back to the party.
In such a situation, Kashmir has little relevance for the party. In fact, appearing accommodative towards the state is seen by the party detrimental to its electoral chances. So, Modi was not expected to say anything different or negate his policy of the past four and a half years. And this policy has been harsh and militaristic in nature. It may not have helped the situation in Kashmir, on the contrary only aggravating it, but it has kept the BJP’s core constituency in the rest of the country happy. So, it is pointless to hope for anything other than the inauguration of the development projects. As of now, Kashmiris have no option but to hope for the election of a secular government at the centre in the upcoming general elections which is sympathetic towards KashmIr.
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