Decision to isolate Hurriyat taken at highest level: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party, an ally of ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir, said on Tuesday that “isolating” Hurriyat leaders by not holding any talks with them is a decision “taken at the highest level in New Delhi” and “only mainstream leaders will be entertained by the Centre.”
“Yes, we have taken a decision that there can be no talks with those who don’t accept the Indian Constitution. The decision in this regard has been taken at the highest level in the party high command and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is privy to it,” BJP’s State President Sat Sharma told reporters here on the sidelines of a party function.
He said the BJP’s central leadership will talk only to those “who accept the Indian constitution.”
“The mainstream leaders need to be strengthened as they have the right to think about the future of J&K,” he said.
Sharma’s remarks run contrary to the Agenda of Alliance of the PDP-BJP government that says the coalition government “will facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections. This dialogue will seek to build a broad based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K.” The Centre also recently told the Supreme Court that it won’t hold any dialogue with the Valley’s resistance leadership.
The BJP’s state chief arrived in Srinagar to take stock of the party’s functioning in the wake of shifting of Darbar Move offices from Jammu to Srinagar after six months.
Asked whether BJP was contradicting the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Kashmir policy, Sharma said Vajpayee did his bit to ensure all segments are brought together. “We honour his vision for Kashmir,” he said in a guarded reply.
On reports that BJP wants Durbar (the seat of governance) to stay in Jammu only, he said: “Some departments that need to stay in both places can work simultaneously from the twin capital cities. But there is no proposal in this regard so far.”
Asked why the PDP-BJP Agenda of Alliance is not being implemented on ground, Sharma said the document was framed some two years ago and “many things were fulfilled.”
“We have four years to implement the AoA and we will do it,” he said.
Asked whether reports that Bhartiya Jan Sena men would come to Kashmir to deal with stone-pelters were true, Sharma said: “BJP is a national party and it doesn’t have any wing called Jan Sena. I have no idea about it.”
On whether stone-pelting was a challenge for the government in Kashmir, he said the PDP and BJP are roping in intelligentsia and civil society groups to counsel youth to compete with students of Delhi, Bangalore and other states of India. “When youth in other states are having books in their hands, why Kashmiri boys would throw stones? We want them to excel at the national level.”
Sharma asserted that in the 2020 elections, BJP will spring many surprises across J&K. “Our party is getting stronger and we are working on all fronts to ensure our agenda for development and peace is explained to people,” he said.