The national general secretary of BJP, Ram Madhav, evidently got carried away when he accused the PDP and the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir of taking instructions from “across the border” in their aborted bid to form a government in the State before the Governor stepped in by dissolving the Assembly. While NC chief Omar Abdullah dared the normally-responsible Ram Madhav to prove his allegation, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti expressed shock at the “baseless allegations.” Hours later, Madhav retracted his statement, rattled by the backlash.
Instances like this damage the credibility of the government and must be eschewed. Loose allegations without evidence to back them give an opportunity to the Pakistani establishment to claim high moral ground while countering India. That Pakistan is engaged in subversion in India is common knowledge. No opportunity should be afforded to the Pakistanis to claim innocence and to cover up their propensity for creating mischief.
Madhav was indeed not wrong in expressing surprise at the PDP and NC making common cause. The two parties have been at dagger’s drawn and for them to suddenly forge a common front to deny Sajjad Lone and the BJP from making a joint bid for power was uncanny. The proposed marriage of convenience between Mehbooba and Omar did not seem to presage a stable arrangement. The Governor’s charge that legislators were receiving “terrorist threats” and that “money was being offered on a large scale” also remained unsubstantiated. It is time the parties in J&K get down to serious work. One can only hope that with elections, stability would return to the state.
-Editorial