As Jammu and Kashmir completes one year of the official abrogation of Article 370 and 35(A), BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav says the occasion calls for a new kind politics in the union territory. In an interview to CNN-News18, Madhav talks about why politicians accustomed to selling the separatist rhetoric in J&K would find this new politics difficult, the delay in abolishment of Triple Talaq and why 200 invitations were sent for the upcoming Ram Mandir bhoomi puran ceremony. Edited excerpts:
One year after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35, Jammu and Kashmir calls for a new politics. When I say ‘new politics’, the idea was laid out long back by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The three words he used were insaniyat, jamuriyat and kashmiriyat. These should form the basis for the new politics in J&K. I see the regional parties issuing a lot of statements these days. They would still want to return to their old rhetoric, but it’s not going to work. People want to move on, they do not want any violent rhetoric, any violence per say and have no appetite for it. They want new politics focused on development, employment and material development of the state. This is what we are looking at.
In the last one year, we tried to bring in investment and MOUs worth Rs 13,500 crore were signed. There are many areas where development activity has kick started. About 10,000 people have been recruited in J&K already. This should be the direction now. Those who are used to the separatist rhetoric will find the new politics difficult and uncomfortable and say that there is no place for us. There is ample space for those who play development politics in Kashmir.