For the second time in the last four days, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has put his party in a spot with his statement that the violations along the Line of Control (LoC) is not an issue that is confined to the two nations.
The comments are contrary not only to the position of the BJP, but of all mainstream parties and the government. They have maintained consistently that all issues between India and Pakistan are bilateral and have to be resolved between the two countries.
“Since Pakistan has violated international norms, the issue is not just confined to the two nations,” a PTI dispatch from Pune quoted Mr. Gadkari as saying during an interaction with reporters at Lavale. He went on to add that the United Nations should boycott Pakistan.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, however, said, “We should not approach anybody.” Asked if the party felt the need to raise the matter before the United Nations, he said, “We have to expose Pakistan at every available opportunity.”
He said it was not a matter of condemnation or verbal response. “It needs a real response and this is the time when we can get a response whereby Pakistan will not indulge in such an act again.”
On Sunday, after visiting the family of the beheaded soldier, Mr. Gadkari had said in Mathura that he expected “the government of India to take this issue up in the United Nations. We should raise the issue in international platforms to isolate Pakistan... The Prime Minister should not keep quiet.”
Sources in the party said that the border issue figured in the interactions senior party leaders had with the government. On the direction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon briefed Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday.