BJP backs trifurcation of Kashmir

An aggressive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put its regional ally, the National Conference (NC) party of Jammu and Kashmir, on notice that it will not remain a silent spectator if the NC pulls out of the federal coalition.

Within a day of the National Conference chief and Junior Foreign Minister Omar Abdullah announcing his intention to resign as a federal minister and withdraw his party from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after elections conclude in the state, the BJP has thrown its weight behind the trifurcation of the state.

With the militancy ridden state expected to head for a hung assembly, the BJP estimates that it will have a definite role to play in formation of the next government in the state, and the National Conference, despite acrimonious ties at the state level between the two parties, may have to turn to it in its bid to retain power in the state.

The demand to split the northern state bordering Pakistan and China into three smaller states - Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh -was proposed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Despite sharing the same ideology, the BJP had rejected the RSS proposal to carve out a Hindu majority Jammu and a Buddhist majority Ladakh state out of the present Jammu and Kashmir, much to the relief of the National Conference.

BJP national general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, has stunned everyone by saying that his party is not opposed to this demand per se.

Denying that the shift in the BJP stand had anything to do with Abdullah's diatribe on Monday, Naqvi told Gulf News yesterday that his party does not consider the trifurcation demand as "anti-national", as termed by outgoing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Omar Abdullah's father Farooq Abdullah.

"We are not opposed to this demand, nor do we view it as anti-national. However, we do feel that given the far from normal situation in the state the time is not ripe for splitting the state into three smaller units," Naqvi said.

The BJP, in principle, favours smaller states for better administrative functioning and was instrumental in the creation of three new states when Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand states were carved out of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar in 2000.

That the ties between the two parties, which oppose each other in the state but are allies at the centre, have worsened further was evident when the BJP accused the National Conference government of neglecting Jammu and Ladakh regions in matters of development.

The BJP is contesting the ongoing state polls in alliance with the RSS-supported Jammu State Morcha, a forum of smaller pro-Hindu organisations. The Morcha strongly supports trifurcation of the state.

This is the first time the BJP has come out in the open saying it is not opposed to this proposal.

Like the National Conference, which has said that it will have nothing to do with the BJP at the state level, exuding confidence that it will succeed in retaining power in the state, the BJP has also ruled out any post-poll alliance with it.

"It is completely ruled out since at the state level we have lots of differences," Naqvi said.

He, however, avoided the question about what the BJP will do in case lack of its support to the National Conference results in the formation of a coalition government by the Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress party. This has emerged as a real possibility in case of a fractured mandate.

Naqvi said that it will depend on the outcome and the prevailing situation then. "While we are firm that we shall have no tie with the National Conference in the state, we will cross the bridge when it comes," he added.

The BJP with seven legislators, was the principal opposition party in the 87-member outgoing state legislative assembly. The party is confident of increasing its tally in the new assembly riding on the greater acceptance of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee amongst the state's voters.