Mehbooba in Delhi Durbar

THAT the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti had to travel all the way to New Delhi to invoke the “Vajpayee Line” should suggest that the ground of commonality between her party, the PDP and the BJP, is shrinking rather fast. Perhaps she has not noticed that the “Vajpayee line” no longer animates the new generation of the BJP leaders, even though the former Prime Minister is conveniently — and, sincerely — enlisted in explaining this concession or that compromise. The BJP takes its cue from the hard-liners in Nagpur, and those overseers are convinced that the “separatist crowd” need not be given any disproportionate attention or importance. The Nagpur crowd is rather inclined to believe that the 'trouble' is confined to only five or six districts and that the situation was manageable and within 'control.'

The JK Chief Minister's invocation of the “Vajpayee” mantra in the face of New Delhi's feel-macho-feel-good triumphalism vis-à-vis Pakistan was an act of desperation. On his part the Prime Minister did well to reiterate his government's belief in “Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s mantra of insaniyat, jamhuriyat, and Kashmiriyat.”  For good measure he also worked in “dialogue” as a preferred instrument of political process. 

That the Prime Minister made these helpful noises at a rally in distant Madhya Pradesh points to his government's complicated internal equations. The Home Minister is all fired up after a visit to Islamabad. And even while the Prime Minister was being conciliatory, the Foreign Secretary was summoning the Pakistani High Commissioner. There does not seem to be enough elbow room or sufficient inclination to engage with Pakistan. Nor would the pro-government electronic media allow the Modi government to get off its high-horse of 'tough message.' The Prime Minister's belated attempt to address himself to the sullen mood in the Valley should send out a message that the Indian democracy was capable of dissolving resentments and grievances. That, of course, is a necessary requirement of statecraft in New Delhi. The people of Kashmir also need to be given a credible fig leaf to spurn the separatist's fake righteousness.