The “compromised alliance” between the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir has drawn criticism from separatists and other political parties.
While the separatist leadership sees the alliance as a further proof of its belief that the Kashmir issue cannot be solved through elections and by “pro-India” parties, other political parties see the alliance as a betrayal of the people of Kashmir.
“We have always seen the pro-India political parties here as an extension of New Delhi rather than as a representation of Kashmiri aspirations. This alliance [PDP-BJP] doesn’t surprise us, but reinforces our belief that we are living in an occupation and must continue to seek independence,” separatist leader and Tehreek-i-Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani told The Hindu .
Mr. Geelani said many people had voted in the Assembly elections after the PDP’s rhetoric that their vote was important to stop the march of the BJP. “While the BJP’s coming to power is no different from being ruled by the Congress, the National Conference or the PDP, the arrangement [PDP-BJP] does shed light on the constant betrayals of the pro-India political parties,” he said.
Other political parties and legislators in the State see the alliance as a betrayal of the hopes of the people and are afraid that it may shake the slowly building confidence of the people in the electoral system in Kashmir.
“[PDP patron] Mufti Sahib [Mohammad Sayeed] has humiliated the Kashmiri people. He has given up on all his talk of self-rule, joint control, dual currency and anti-communalism that he sold to the Kashmiri people before the elections,” Independent legislator from Langate Sheikh Rasheed said. “Article 370 was never the issue between the government of India and the J&K, but Mufti sahib has made he AFSPA and Article 370 into a Kashmir issue and sold everything including us, very cheap.”
Senior Communist leader M.Y. Tarigami criticised the decision of the PDP to choose to ally with “communal” parties while ignoring the secular forces.
“We are waiting for the common minimum programme to see its elements. Mufti sahib has said that he will not let down his people and the CMP will reveal what he has done,” senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz told The Hindu .
