‘Art 35-A, beef and State flag issues trivial, shouldn’t be raised’
The rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday extended an olive branch to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promising no one should raise issues that disturb peace in the State.
Talking to us in his civil secretariat chambers in Jammu, senior BJP leader Chaudhary Lal Singh termed the issues like revocation of Article 35-A, which ensures a special status to Jammu Kashmir, consumption of beef and unfurling of State’s flag raised by rightwing parties during the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP-BJP government as “trivial”.
“These are all trivial issues and we should not raise such issues,” he said.
An RSS backed NGO ‘Kashmir Study Group’ had challenged the application of Article 35-A in the State in the Supreme Court of India, bringing embarrassment to the PDP-led coalition government of which RSS’s affiliate BJP is a part.
The Jammu branch of the State High Court had called for implementing a ban on the sale of bovine animals in the state and consumption of beef, which was welcomed by the BJP but opposed by PDP.
The unfurling of State flag had also become a controversy after the General Administration Department had issued orders calling for using the State flag along with the tricolor atop government buildings.
This was opposed by the State BJP following which Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led State government retracted the GAD order, bringing another embarrassment to the government.
Singh said by allying with BJP, Mufti had brought two ideologically different regions closer, for which he would be remembered as a visionary leader for times to come.
Hinting at the flexibility BJP would show in the government headed by Mehbooba, Singh said, “People change when the governments and political parties change their languages.”
Giving an example of how Islamabad had been showing a flexible and moderate approach on Kashmir, he said, “After trying the different means, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has finally understood that he has to deal with India in a friendly manner and he seems to be serious.”
