Come hell or high water no one has the right to block the national highway from Jammu to Srinagar through the Pir Panjal Range.
You can block the road from Jaipur to Delhi because there are alternative land routes available. But this is the one and only route from the rest of India into the Kashmir valley and beyond. The consequences of blockading the route are disastrous. Humanitarian supplies have been cut off. The economy of the Valley has been put on a standstill. The army outposts and Ladakh have to be stocked for winter before the road accesses to those places close down. This blockade can result in short provisions in those areas for the long winter.
I do not know how many are aware that till this highway was built the only way to the Kashmir valley was through Pakistan. After Jammu and Kashmir ceded to India Jawaharlal Nehru had this highway built on war footing. It was one of the few good things that he has done. It is on the strength of this highway that we have been able to retain Jammu and Kashmir. This highway is worth its weight in gold.
It is true that the PDP created this controversy for their electoral gains by mounting an agitation to get the court order revoked. In order to win brownie points the PDP played football with the Amarnath Shrine Board and the sentiments of the Hindus. There was nothing so pressing about the issue that it had to be handled before the elections in Kashmir. If they felt strongly about it they should have included it in their manifesto and fought the elections on it. The elections were only a few months away. It is true that the Congress fiddled while Rome burnt. Only it was India that was burning and not Rome. The Congress, like Charlie Brown, believes that no problem is so big that one cannot run away from it. Only problems do not run away. Therefore the country has a right to be aggrieved at the petty drama that was played out between the PDP and the Congress and most of all the Shrine board that was used as a pawn.
The BJP jumped into the bandwagon for its own electoral gains. In this issue, as in the Rama Setu issue, they saw an opportunity to tell the Hindus of India that they are in danger if the Congress comes back to power. I do not agree with the ‘Hindutva’ fraternity jumping into the bandwagon this way because I honestly believe that this is counterproductive. But I respect their right to make their own political decisions. I looked with sadness at the rising ante in the game of poker politics but I kept quiet. Because if one political party behaves irresponsibly then the others have to follow to maintain their political space.
