Tone it down

The BJPs insistence,which has become an article of faith,giving it a pseudo-revolutionary tone,is matched by its verbal attack on the Centre and Jamp;K Chief Minster Omar Abdullah,accusing them of having psychologically surrendered to separatists. This misses the fundamental logic that the problem of Kashmir does not rest on the hoisting of the national flag at Lal Chowk. In fact,it can be no more than a symbolic act which has the potential to aggravate tensions at a moment when the Valley had just begun to see a tense quietening down after a fraught summer. As the nations main opposition party,the BJP has a responsibility here which the party has been running away from.

That is why it is time the BJP itself saw reason,toning down its rhetoric and withdrawing from this path. Even its ally,the JDU,has asked it to drop its plans. Securing the national interest involves much that has nothing to do with symbol and rhetoric such as the transaction of business in the national legislature. Kashmir doesnt need spectacle; it needs nuance and the firmness of touch that comes from offering people the small changes that begin improving their lives. Whether in government or opposition,that is what major national parties should work towards securing. Aggressive postures aimed at little more than self-serving polarisation will do no good to any cause,least of all one proclaimed in the name of this countrys unity.