Rift within Congress over Kashmir policy

With UP elections approaching, Congress leaders seem to have no clarity on what line to take on Kashmir. After playing the upper caste card by projecting Sheila Diskhit as its face for the forthcoming polls, the Congress is not being able take a hard anti-Modi stance. One school of thought in the party felt that criticising the government on Kashmir might alienate the upper caste vote bank. The other school of thought claimed that the party must take a hard anti-government stand on Kashmir to consolidate the Muslim vote bank.

Mr Modi’s remarks on Balochistan from the ramparts of Red Fort did not merely turn the Pakistan policy on its head but also whipped up jingoism which the BJP felt could adequately “polarise” the vote bank. While polarisation works for the BJP, it might hit the Congress hard, which is anyway lagging far behind in the electoral race.

The Congress’ spin-doctors and the party high command are groping in the dark for a clear line on Kashmir.

The combined force of upper caste (Brahmins and Thakurs) and Muslims is nearly 30 per cent in UP. While Muslims comprise 18.5 per cent of the population, Brahmins constitute 13 and Thakurs 7.6 per cent. The Muslims, who had been the traditional vote bank of the Congress, tilted towards SP and BSP and the upper caste gravitated towards these two outfits while some remained with the BJP.

The BJP is now all set to package the Prime Minister’s Balochistan remarks for the UP polls. A senior party functionary, hinting that the party would subtly raise the Balochistan issue during election rallies, said, “Anything which is of national interest will consolidate the nationalists across the country, even in UP and Punjab.”

Confusion within the Congress has been more than apparent since the Prime Minister’s speech on Balochistan. While the party officially backed Mr Modi’s move to raise the Balochistan issue, former foreign minister Salman Khrushid described it as “anari ka foreign policy.”

Congress leaders who favour backing Mr Modi on Balochistan issue argue that the BJP has been targeting Congress as a party that is “weak on nationalism.” If the party does not play ball on Balochistan, it could “loose the support of youth and the middle class,” a party functionary said.

Others want the Congress to remain in a political safe zone and not antagonise Muslim voters.

Though the Congress supported the government on its approach to Kashmir unrest in Parliament, on Wednesday former finance minister P. Chidambaram targeted the government saying, “The PDP-BJP government is squarely responsible for the sharp deterioration in the last six weeks.” Mr Chidambaram also said that the statements of the Prime Minister, home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Manohar Parrikar have “exacerbated” the crisis.

He maintained that “moderation in words and actions alone can retrieve the situation. The loss of lives — of protesting youth, other civilians and security forces — has devastated all of us. This must stop.” Mr Chidambaram said that he was deeply concerned over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which was “sliding into total chaos”.