Valley unrest: Madhav calls on Mehbooba
after his “all is fair in love and war comment” stirred a political storm in Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Ram Madhav met chief minister Mehbooba Mufti at her Fairview residence here on Sunday.
The details of the meeting however were not known. After the 30-minute meeting, the BJP leader refused to speak to waiting mediapersons.
The meeting comes in the wake of the deteriorating law and order situation in the Valley and reports of a rift between the coalition partners over statements by Madhav and state industries minister Chandra Prakash Ganga.
Ganga had stoked a controversy by calling for use of bullets on protesters in the valley. He later expressed regret.
The PDP was also unhappy with Madhav’s comments complimenting an army officer who had tied a man to the bonnet of a jeep to escape stone-pelting in a Kashmir village.
Meanwhile, a local news portal quoted a BJP source saying that Madhav had come with a message from BJP president Amit Shah saying that he (Shah) was misquoted “as saying that the BJP is preparing for the next election in J&K with only Jammu and Ladakh in mind’’.
The visit also comes a day after Madhav ruled out any possibility of talks with Kashmiri separatists and accused them of playing politics of sentiments over dead bodies. The Centre had told the same to the Supreme Court on Friday.
“Separatists have only one motto — one dead body a day, so that they can play sentimental politics over the dead bodies. They use the people of the Valley as guinea pigs in their reprehensible politics of violence and separatism,” he told reporters in Delhi.
The PDP-BJP coalition government in the state has come under criticism for its inability to control the violence that has taken the shape of street protests by school and college students, including girls.
The Mehbooba Mufti-led government has banned high speed internet for a month in the Valley, hoping to clamp down on the spread of videos and images that officials believe fan tension. Eleven civilians were killed in the past one month in forces’ firing on demonstraters.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress and National Conference have been demanding that Mehbooba steps down and make way for governor’s rule in the state for restoration of peace.
Earlier this week, Mehbooba also met Union home minister Rajnath Singh and assured that the situation in Kashmir will improve within two-three months.