In a scathing statement issued after a meeting at senior BJP leader L.K. Advani’s residence, the BJP said: “An unpopular chief minister suffers complete alienation from his people. It is time he is replaced by a more acceptable person. The Central government is completely devoid of any vision on how to deal with the situation.”
The BJP also reiterated its stand on the AFSPA — that any dilution, which the Centre is believed to be contemplating in certain parts of the troubled state, will only give a fillip to separatists.
Among the party leaders who attended the meeting at Mr Advani’s residence were Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.
On the AFSPA the party said: “What is of concern to the nation is that instead of realising the seriousness of the problem and attempting to resolve it, the Central government is living in self-delusion that by diluting the applicability of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act it can appease the separatists.”
It stated: “The stratagem of the separatists is clear. They want to push the Central government to loosen the political relationship between India and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Once the government loses this battle of nerves the separatists want to reject the concessions granted by the government of India and move to the next stage till they realise their declared object of azadi.”
In its strongly-worded statement the saffron outfit warned against the lifting of the AFSPA from any disturbed district in the state. Calling for the strengthening of the security environment, it said the “miscreants must feel scared and not (be) allowed to call the shots. If the government does not realise this, the challenges before the Indian state will further worsen.” The BJP has also warned the Centre against indulging in the politics of “appeasement or vote-bank politics”. Instead, according to the BJP, this is the time for “action”.