The people of India will bear the consequences of the BJP’s adventurism
KARACHI: India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), believes that it can secure victory in the general election by driving a wedge between the majority Hindu community and the minorities, which by no means constitute a ‘small’ section of the population. Armed with Hindutva ideology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has employed intimidation as a tactic against opponents in order to force large-scale public surrender to the BJP doctrine. The India-occupied Kashmir (IOK) is a natural hunting ground for the champions of the Hindutva ideology, and leaders of the Kashmiri cause such as Yasin Malik attract the wrath of the rulers in New Delhi. Now in his 50s and accused of various crimes, Malik retains the old aura that links him and yet sets him apart from the other big names in the Hurriyat, the umbrella organisation of parties fighting to free Kashmir from Indian occupation.
Malik’s arrest and the banning of his Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (following the Pulwama attack) mark the continuation of a policy of divide and rule being resorted to by the Centre. Continued oppression of Kashmiris by the Indian state can only result in increasing alienation of the oppressed. The Indian government should understand the consequences of its reckless actions in Kashmir. In order to win the elections and regain power the BJP is not heeding sane advice. The people of India will bear the consequences of the BJP’s adventurism.
Ali Raza Ansari
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2019.
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