New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan sparked a fresh controversy following his comments on deployment of army in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving his party at the mercy of its political rivals who in turn wasted no opportunity in targeting it. Bhushan, who blamed the news channels for twisting his remarks, came under intense fire by parties like the BJP and Congress. Even Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said there was no need for a referendum on such issues.
Bhushan's comments were not to the liking of his own colleagues and his party attempted to control damage. "Prashant Bhushan ji had said something else, his comments were distorted. AAP believes that Kashmir is India's integral part, Bhushan ji agrees on it as well," said AAP member Dilip Pandey while reading out a statement issued by Bhushan.
As the issue snowballed into a big controversy, Bhushan defended himself alleging that his comments on Kashmir were twisted by the media. "Headlines Today and Aaj Tak has sensationalised my statement. Any reference to referendum should not misconstrue to mean plebiscite on Kashmir's relationship with India," he said.
In his statement, Bhushan said although it was upon the government to deploy forces anywhere in the country this should be done by taking people's view in consideration and this was his view of participatory governance and Swaraj. "It is the prerogative of the state to deploy security forces, including armed forces for any stretch to internal and external security. This prerogative must be exercised in the best interest of the people, and as far as possible, with their consent," he said.
However, the damage was done. "Such ill-advised ideas must always be rejected outrightly. They can only disturb India's security environment and a disturbed environment disturbs politics, it disturbs sovereignty and it disturbs economy," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said while hitting out at the AAP leader.
Jaitley also used the opportunity to hit out at AAP saying that it was "regrettable" that a party with national ambitions was adopting a position similar to that of Pakistan and the separatists hostile to India's interests.
The Congress party, too, joined the fray with party leader Ambika Soni cautioning on the "repercussions and fallouts which you can't imagine". She expressed surprise at the "flippant manner" in which Bhushan voiced his views pertaining to the sensitive state.
Omar Abdullah said, "Reduction of the footprint of security forces & phased revocation of AFSPA doesn't need a referendum, just a courageous statesman to decide. overnments get a mandate to govern & decide, they don't need to conduct a referendum before every tricky decision. Leaders must lead."
BJP also charged AAP and Congress of speaking in "synergy" on the issues related to the border state and toeing the line of Pakistan.
Insisting that AAP and Congress are "working in tandem", BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said Bhushan's statement is in the same vein as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that India and Pakistan had almost reached an agreement on Kashmir when Pervez Musharraf was President. "PM's recent address that hinted at a solution to the Kashmir problem was probably an acceptance of Pakistan's proposal of 'open' borders in Kashmir- a Pakistani ploy to merge Kashmir with Pakistan'," Lekhi said.
"In the background of such a remark, the recent rhetoric of Bhushan on the Kashmir issue is reflective of a collusion that is taking place yet again between the two political parties," she added.
Bhushan had said a referendum should be carried out in Kashmir to decide on deployment of the army to deal with internal security threats in the Valley. He said if the AAP forms a government at the Centre they will hold a referendum on deciding whether the army should remain deployed in Kashmir.
He had also spoken in favour of lifting of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in J&K, saying it gave the army immunity in cases of human rights violation while causing alienation among the people.
"It is very important for us to win the hearts and minds of the people and prevent alienation. For that, the first thing which needs to be done is to remove AFSPA, which gives the army immunity in (cases of) human rights violations," Bhushan had told a TV channel. The army's deployment for internal security purposes should be effected only with the consent of the people, except in cases where the rights of minorities need to be protected, he had said.
In 2011, Bhushan had triggered a controversy by supporting the idea of holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.
(with additional inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment