When Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose to speak at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre, many expected he would use the Kashmir platform to announce a political initiative on the state. More so, after the announcement of the unilateral ceasefire for Ramadhan. It was expected that now freed of the electoral compulsions following the conclusion of the elections in Karnataka, he would reach out to Hurriyat and possibly even Pakistan and announce talks. But nothing of the sort happened. The PM instead reiterated the old development mantra as a solution to Kashmirs ills. The solution to every problem, dispute and disagreement is only vikas, vikas, vikas (development, development, development) and vikas (development), Modi said in his speech after inaugurating a slew of development projects in Valley.
He had nothing else to offer. As the speech revealed, a dialogue with Islamabad seems hardly uppermost in New Delhis priorities, nor the one with Hurriyat. If anything, this shows the dialogue between India and Pakistan has little hope of resuming in near future. India has now a vast constituency that wont agree to talks with Pakistan, let alone stand a pursuit for the resolution of the issues between them. And if at all there has to be a resolution, New Delhi will seek it on its terms.
The PM is not in any way inclined to use his enormous political capital to seek a political resolution of Kashmir. This is unlike Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his predecessor in BJP, even though he never tires of referring to him in every speech on Kashmir. Vajpayee too was ideologically-rooted. But he utilized his political stature to break free and deal with issues unburdened by the ideological commitments. Modi also has stature but he has so far chosen to play politically safe and operate strictly within ideological boundaries which have only narrowed by the day.
Considering much of Modi brand is based on a tough stance towards Pakistan and not conceding a bit in Kashmir, it is unlikely that he would depart from his policy so far. More so, when this stance has politically benefited him. His partys agenda is a complete ideological makeover of India and the lynchpin of this programme is the integration of Kashmir into India
However, Modi alone is not responsible for inaction on Kashmir. Governments before him have also not shown resolve to address the festering conflict. Result is before us: in the 70 years so far, Kashmir has been bleeding. What is more, the Kashmiri mainstream leaders havent covered themselves with glory either. New Delhi has reduced them to a convenience and they havent protested as long as they have enjoyed power. They wont even fight for any major political or development concession from New Delhi during the period they are in power. For example, it has now been four years since PDP-BJP coalition was formed and the Agenda of Alliance was agreed between them, but the BJP hasnt taken even the first step towards its implementation, nor has the PDP complained.
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