AoA: Before the time runs out

We are in the third year of the PDP-JP coalition government and there is little talk about the existence of the Agenda of Alliance, let alone any steps being taken to implement it. Neither the BJP nor even the PDP talk about it – albeit the latter occasionally sends some pro-forma reminders in the way of its forgetful ally. The ally pretends not to listen. And at times curtly rules out any intention of ever keeping its side of bargain. The PDP doesn’t protest, merely saying that on its part it is committed to the Agenda. True, the coalition has still three years to go but the central government which alone can implement this agenda has just two years left. And with every new month the possibility of any action on the Agenda is correspondingly declining.

The agenda of alliance was worked out between the BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav and the PDP leader Dr Haseeb Drabu over two months of painstaking deliberation. The agenda seemed to have achieved a delicate ideological and political trade-off between the parties. BJP agreed to maintain the present position on all the constitutional provisions pertaining to J&K including the special status in the Constitution of India. It also agreed to de-notify the disturbed areas enabling Union Government to take a final view on the continuation of AFSPA. The party also agreed to explore the modalities for transfer of Dulhasti and Uri hydro power projects to J&K as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee Report and the Round Table reports. There was understanding on other contentious issues as well. But the realty is that over the past more than two years that the coalition has held power, the saffron party has reneged on all its commitments like the revocation of AFSPA, return of power projects, to say nothing of initiating dialogue with the separatist groups. BJP also moved the political discourse on Kashmir away from the resolution of the issue to the integration of the state into India.

Though the PDP wants the BJP to take some concrete steps towards the implementation of the Agenda of Alliance to give people of the state a stake in the coalition, so far the BJP has done nothing to get the coalition back on track. Simplest thing expected was BJP holding out a credible assurance that the Agenda of Alliance will be taken to its logical conclusion. After all, the points in the agenda have been agreed by both the parties. So why shy away from saying that the party is committed to it and ready to make a credible beginning somewhere. If anything, BJPs silence only makes people in the state sceptical about its commitment to the mutually agreed common minimum programme. Also it makes people suspect that either the BJP alone or together with the PDP have worked out the Agenda of Alliance in bad faith, The alliance between the parties becomes little more than an arrangement for the enjoyment of power. With the time to implement the mutually agreed agenda fast running out, it is time for the PDP to assert itself and demand from the PDP to keep its side of the bargain. Not doing so will only reveal that the PDP is complicit in the inaction.

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