‘Provocateurs made people sacrificial lambs’

NEW DELHI: Ram Madhav, the influential BJP general secretary who plays a key role in shaping New Delhi’s policy towards Kashmir spoke exclusively to HT’s Prashant

Jha on Monday about the unrest in Kashmir.

Critics suggest that the problem in Kashmir is the BJP-PDP alliance, which caused alienation in the Valley.

Absolutely not. I was involved in the formation of this alliance. Our major worry was that we may be able to stitch this alliance but would the Valley accept it? I used to discuss with Mufti Saheb that once we do this, you should be prepared for a three-month unrest, because people would revolt. But to our surprise, it was taken as a natural corollary of the mandate that was available to us. I see a major reason behind the acceptance of this alliance to be the Modi factor. Now after one and a half years, if an Opposition leader stands in the Rajya Sabha and says violence is happening because of this alliance, one should laugh at him.

Should Burhan Wani’s killing have been handled better? In death, he has become bigger.

This illusion must be removed that because of Wani’s killing this has happened. There are agent provocateurs who have been responsible. After Burhan’s death, there was an immediate flare-up. Then ten people died. Then deaths of ten people became further trigger. Then agent provocateurs realised that a death a day, was the best way to continue unrest. They made innocent people sacrificial lambs.

But did security forces walk into the trap? They were seen as being insensitive, ruthless, because they used pellets.

On the contrary, the security forces have taken great brunt on themselves. Close to 4,000 members of forces have suffered injuries. A couple of them have died. If they were ruthless and insensitive, they would not have taken so much injury. They tried their best to maintain restraint. As far as pellet guns are concerned, these were seen as alternative to bullets. Because of pellet guns, deaths were avoided.

If Wani’s killing is not the cause, does it reflect a deeper political and psychological alienation among Kashmiris vis-a-vis the Indian state?

Whenever there is violence, this debate happens – if Kashmiris are less or more alienated. Today’s unrest is confined to mostly four districts of South Kashmir. I do not believe that ordinary Kashmiris are against India.