It is now no more a secret that the so-called ultra nationalist BJP had made up its mind to give concessions to Pakistan and accord legitimacy to the politics of communalism and separatism in Kashmir by giving maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir and its adjoining areas. In fact, the BJP agreed to accept Pakistan’s anti-India suggestions in March 1999, when the Indian Foreign Minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz met at Colombo to discuss ways and means to resolve the so-called Kashmir issue, diffuse the potentially dangerous situation in South Asia, and harmonize India-Pakistan relations.

The meeting between the two resulted in a sort of agreement that was to be implemented in a span of four-five years. The agreement inter alia suggested plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir on regional/district basis, division of Jammu province along the Chenab river on communal lines, maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir and its adjoining areas, and ‘annexation’ of the remaining areas of Jammu province and Ladakh region by India.

The two Foreign Ministers were to meet again after one month to give concrete shape to the agreement. But it (mercifully) did not happen because of the Kargil invasion. Later, the BJP-led NDA Government was voted out in 2004.

What the Indian Foreign Minister did at Colombo should clinch the issue that the BJP stood for major concessions to Pakistan, and thus to jeopardize paramount national interests. This is one example, and it refers to the BJP’s positive attitude towards the aggressor Pakistan and the Kashmiri extremists, and negative attitude towards the non-Muslim minorities in the state, including Hindus, displaced Kashmiri Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians.

That the attitude of the BJP has not changed even after losing power and suffering a humiliating defeat in the 2009 general elections can be seen from another example. The case in point was the recent discussion in the Rajya Sabha over Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on quiet talks and quiet diplomacy on Jammu & Kashmir. The BJP participated in the discussion with Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley asking the Home Minister if he had taken Chief Minister Omar Abdullah into confidence before making his statement in Kashmir on quiet talks, quiet diplomacy and an unique solution to the Kashmir problem! The Home Minister responded: “We (Home Minister and Chief Minister) are on the same page”.

To be more precise, the BJP leader supported the idea of quiet talks and quiet diplomacy on Jammu & Kashmir – a sad climbdown from its original stand that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and has to be integrated fully into India by abrogating Article 370.

This is a line totally inconsistent with the line that motivated Syama Prasad Mookerjee to enter the State without obtaining a permit on May 11, 1953 – an action that led to his arrest. He died in Kashmir in mysterious circumstances on June 23, 1953 while in police custody. He laid down his life for the national cause and he was the one who opposed tooth and nail the pernicious and divisive idea of do vidhans (two constitutions), do nissans (two flags) and do pradhans (two prime ministers) and gave the slogan of “ek vidhan, ek Nissan aur ek Pradhan (One Constitution, One Flag and One Prime Minister).

Anyway, there were elements in the country who used to bemoan that whatever the BJP had done in 1999 and whatever it did thereafter, including resumption of the peace process with Pakistan, was done with the consent of the RSS, its mentor and source of inspiration and strength. But no one was prepared to buy their startling revelations because no one could ever imagine that the RSS could take such a dangerous U-turn.

That those who were raising fingers against the RSS proved right can be seen from what its ‘great ideologue’ Tarun Vijay shamelessly did in Delhi on January 19. The Director of the RSS-founded Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF) exposed the RSS and its questionable approach towards Jammu & Kashmir in general and the exiled Kashmiri Hindus in particular, the day he organized a discussion to mark two decades of what he himself described as the “most atrocious exile (read migration of the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Hindus from their original habitat in 1990) in the world.”

To the astonishment of all who received the invitations, Tarun Vijay provided the SPMRF platform to Ms Madhu Kishwar, editor of the defunct Manushi and fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, who organized a day-long seminar on Nov. 7, 2009 at Teen Murti Bhavan, jointly with the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library.

This was an out-and-out anti-India and anti-Kashmiri Hindu forum. The star invitee was the famed terrorist Yasin Malik, and of course, the range of separatists, secessionists, pro-Pakistan and autonomy-wallahs of the Kashmir political spectrum. (As in the rest of India, there are available secularists among Kashmiri Hindus as well; were it not so Nehru would not have succeeded in messing things up to the extent he did).

Among the few genuine Hindu Kashmiri voices invited was Mrs. Nancy Kaul, convener, Daughters of Vitasta, and a leading activist of the exiled and aggrieved community in Delhi. Nancy Kaul was crudely interrupted when she began reading her paper by both Madhu Kishwar and her co-chair, Ram Jethmalani, and rudely muffled. This is the Kishwar whom Tarun Vijay saw fit to invite to tarnish the memory and sacrifice of Syama Prasad Mookerjee!

More recently, the Delhi anti-national elite held a three-day seminar at the India International Centre, where the Wagah candlelight burners led by Rajinder Sachar, Kuldip Nayar and Inder Kumar Gujral – under the benign gaze of Pakistanis funded via Jang newspaper – adopted a resolution demanding self-rule for Jammu & Kashmir, demilitarization of the state, withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), visa free South Asia, joint-patrolling of borders, joint-management of water resources, and so on. In other words, they adopted a resolution which was nothing but open sedition against India and venom against the displaced Kashmiri Hindus.

Many sane voices cajoled the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation to politely dis-invite Madhu Kishwar and not taint the memory of the great martyr by providing the Foundation platform to a known supporter of the People’s Democratic Party, Pakistan, and dreaded terrorists like Yasin Malik. [It is pertinent to recall here that the Teen Murti seminar was exclusively to promote the PDP self-rule document, as can be attested from Kishwar’s own official report of the same, which can be seen at:

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1044 ]

Sadly nothing came of these sincere and strenuous efforts. Tarun Vijay stuck to his mind-boggling decision, possibly under pressure from unknown mentors, one of whom personally apologized to Nancy Kaul for the decision and assured that such ‘mistakes’ would not happen in future. He agreed that allowing such persons to share the pious platform with the new BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and former J&K Governor Jagmohan was politically unacceptable in Hindutva circles.

As expected, Madhu Kishwar did not confine her speech to lamenting the tragedy that befell Kashmiri Hindus in 1990, and used the opportunity to try to peddle the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed line for concessions to Kashmiri Muslims. This was vehemently resisted by Nancy Kaul, supported by Ms Sandhya Jain, and these valiant ladies later articulated their intellectual (not personal) opposition to the event at Jain’s website www.vijayvaani.com (which has been playing a splendid role exposing the misdeeds of all engaged in anti-India activities).

Privately, Tarun Vijay defended his decision to invite Madhu Kishwar despite stiff opposition from many of his own colleagues, on grounds that higher ups in the Jammu RSS had suggested her name. If true, this may be a dangerous indication that some entrenched interests within the RSS, as in the BJP, are secretly yielding to the West-funded balkanisation industry. This does not augur well for the nation and the Hindu community, which is already at the receiving end of so much treasonous activity.

The RSS must clarify and refashion its approach towards Jammu & Kashmir and send a clear signal to all that it shall not allow anyone to tinker with Indian sovereignty or give legitimacy to the politics of communalism based on religious fanaticism and separatism.

The first step in this direction could be to re-constitute the board of the SP Mookerjee Research Foundation, taking care to exclude covert pseudo-seculars and pseudo-nationalists. This is the minimum that the RSS must do to dispel the impression that it is also yielding the Akhand Bharat platform.

This article was originally published in Dainik Jagran, 24 January 2010

The author is Chair Professor, Gulab Singh Chair, Jammu University, Jammu