BJP playing jingoistic games in J&K: Congress

Wants Rajnath to explain what ‘permanent solution’ means

Call of duty: A CRPF man stands guard outside Jamia Masjid during a shutdown in Srinagar on Monday.

The Congress on Monday asked Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to explain what he meant when he said he had found a “permanent solution” for Kashmir.

“Anyone with a nodding acquaintance with history knows what a ‘permanent/ final solution’ means,” said party spokesperson Manish Tewari.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, he said, was giving interviews “passionately advocating engagement with the Hurriyat Conference and Pakistan, saying it was part of the Agenda of Alliance it had signed with the BJP” (the PDP is a coalition partner with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir) while the BJP was “playing its own jingoistic game”.

Mr. Tewari said his party wanted to know why Ms. Mufti didn’t quit the government, given the “ideological dissonance” between the two parties.

“The Centre must first talk to its own Chief Minister,” he emphasised.

Ominous tone

From former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s promise of finding a solution within the framework of “ insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamhooriyat ” to talk of the ominous sounding ‘permanent solution’, the BJP had come a long way, Mr. Tewari said, adding that the Modi government must realise the “extreme damage” it was causing in the process. “This is a time to attempt to win hearts and minds,” the Congress spokesperson said, referring to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Kashmir valley.

“When the Home Minister makes a statement, it is taken seriously. If he uses a phrase like ‘permanent solution’, he needs to explain it as the phraseology is disturbing… How can something that is pushing Kashmir to the edge help,” he asked.