Eye on Gujarat, BJP calls Cong-PDP ‘soft on terror’

With Assembly elections in Gujarat just over a month away, the BJP today mounted a subtle, but a potentially controversial, offensive agains...

With Assembly elections in Gujarat just over a month away, the BJP today mounted a subtle, but a potentially controversial, offensive against the Congress by targeting what it called the ‘‘soft line’’ of the new coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP had, in a calculated move, distanced itself politically from the new government by not sending any Central leader to Mufti’s swearing-in ceremony last week. And today, by attacking the common minimum programme (CMP) drawn by the Congress-PDP alliance, it sought to put the Congress in the dock in Gujarat.

This focus on terrorism stems from the party’s reasoning that the Akshardham incident has deeply affected the public psyche in Gujarat and ‘‘soft line towards terrorists’’ would meet with strong disapproval. It was for this reason that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had shrewdly pitted himself against ‘‘Mian Musharraf’’ and ‘‘his mercenaries’’ in wall posters and speeches.

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Today, the BJP fielded party president M Venkaiah Naidu against CMP in Chennai and general secretary Arun Jailtey in New Delhi. Naidu, according to reports, said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani would be more than willing to help the new regime restore peace. However, in the same breath, he criticised the CMP, arguing that it was fraught with serious consequences.

He said that the promised release of militants, non-application of POTA and disbanding of the special operations group, formed to fight militancy, would give a fillip to terrorism and demoralise security forces. This would be disastrous for the country, he claimed. Therefore, the Congress, major partner in the coalition government, should impress upon Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed to give up this move.

Naidu said that the PDP had no mandate to adopt a soft line towards terrorists. The Jammu region alone accounted for about 400 militants, who had been arrested for heinous crimes. Their release would send a wrong signal.

Jaitley, who is also the Centre’s interlocutor on the greater autonomy issue, told journalists here that ‘‘the CMP is disturbing.’’ Mufti’s decision on POTA ‘‘is terrorist-friendly,’’ he said. Jaitley claimed that the power to ban terrorist outfits rested with the Centre. Since Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen had been banned, Mufti needed explain whether he would arrest the people associated with them or let them carry on their activities without any fear of arrest.

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Similarly, POTA empowered the police to intercept messages of terrorists. One would wish to know if Mufti would let the state police do it.

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