BJP accuses Cong of partisan politics

NEW DELHI: BJP latched on to Congress's comparison of the Hurriyat and the Amarnath agitators as "two sides of the same coin" to criticise the ruling party for "partisan" politics that had encouraged growth of separatism in Kashmir while breeding resentment in Jammu.

Speaking to the media, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that there was no case for equating the stir in Jammu, where people were turning out holding the Indian flag, and separatists in Kashmir who were denouncing India and raising slogans in favour of Pakistan.

This comparison was at the root of Congress’s vote bank politics. "Hurriyat is demanding azadi, its supporters hoist the Pakistani flag, many of the elements under its banner talk the language of ISI and do not even recognise India," said Prasad. He pointed out that Congress's statement implied that it was weighing in on behalf of separatists who had propagated an anti-India agenda for decades now.

The BJP said the Hurriyat campaign was based on several falsehoods, beginning with the canard that land being transferred to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was to be used to settle "Hindu" populations and change the demographic profile of the Valley. The land at Baltal was not only quite inhospitable, it was to be used to set up temporary huts and sanitary facilities. For the time when it was not pilgrim season, there were plans to build bunds that would protect some facilities like stores and cabling from heavy snow drifts.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley pointed out that the party had been the first to "expose" the claim that the highway to Srinagar had been blockaded. This was simply not true but the separatists had nonetheless launched the second phase of their agitation on this basis. In contrast, the Jammu agitationists had been peaceful and were demanding implementation.
of a High Court order on facilities for pilgrims.

Source : Times Of India