New Delhi, August 10
Members of the all-party delegation are expected to meet government officials tomorrow to discuss the situation arising of the ongoing Amarnath land transfer row in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is learnt that the second round of talks would have to be convened. The government feels that talks will be fruitful only if the Sangharsh Samiti withdraws its agitation and then comes forward for a dialogue.
After the delegation returned to Delhi, a confident home minister, Shivraj Patil, said a solution would be found after weighing all suggestions made at the meetings. A member of the delegation said the situation on ground zero was “grim”.
"Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti is no longer in control of the BJP. Every party is now trying to regain control of the samiti for political mileage".
Meanwhile, rhetoric on the issue continues with the BJP trying hard to keep the pressure on the government and also keep the issue alive. Comparing the agitation in Jammu to the protest launched by Jana Sangh ideologue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee 55 years ago for cancelling the visa system for those visiting JK, BJP leader L. K. Advani said, “we have turned a full circle”.
“Mukherjee had promised the people that he would either get the permit system abolished or sacrifice his life ... Today we seem to have turned a full circle”, Advani said at the release of special issue of a children's magazine dedicated to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia
warned the Centre against stoking fire over the “legitimate demands” of the Sangharsh Samiti. A memorandum was presented to President Pratibha Patil to step in.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad blamed former J&K Governor S.K. Sinha for the ugly turn to the land transfer issue. “Sinha is in the root of all this problem. He should not have been made the Governor,” he said, while charging the BJP with communalising the issue.
Meanwhile, the decision to keep the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) out of the talks to find a way out has evoked strong reactions.
Coming down heavily on the home minister, former president of People’s Union for Civil Liberties Rajinder Sachar termed the decision “as total surrender to communal forces and something that has completely negated the purpose of such talks.”
