BJP confident of new stand on Kashmir

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, NOV. 23. The new face of the Bharatiya Janata Party as a peace messiah in Kashmir is difficult for its cadre to swallow, but party leaders are confident they will be able to explain the ``reality on the ground.''

Till very recently, the party's slogan in relation to Kashmir was ``khoon ka badla khoon se denge (blood for blood)'' and later it was modified to ``eenth ka jawab pathar se denge (we will respond to bricks with stones)''. Fom that to the offer of a unilateral ceasefire is a far cry.

Senior leaders admit that when the BJP was in the Opposition, it called numerous `bandhs' in Delhi and Jammu, almost regularly for years after every massacre, and now that after a ceasefire offer five truckers have been killed in cold blood by militants, it has had to preach restraint.

``It is a gamble that Vajpayeeji (the Prime Minister) has taken. And although it seems that it may fail, like the Lahore bus diplomacy did, the fact is that it does give peace a chance, and we have to take that chance,'' a party leader said. Yes, the slogans had changed, the direction had changed, but the feeling was that though the cadre might be angry (after all, who is not angry about the daily massacres of innocents?), they would understand. To that extent, the BJP does not seem worried about not being able to send the message of peace in the State across to its supporters.

As for the differences within the alliance getting exposed - the Shiv Sena has attacked the unilateral ceasefire - a Minister in the Vajpayee Government pointed out that when the ruling coalition includes the National Conference and the Shiv Sena, there can be no uniform view on this sensitive question. The Sena has had its say, and the Prime Minister too let it be known that there are limits they should not cross.

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