In an embarrassment to BJP, its Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani today came out in support of Kashmir interlocutors and termed as "childish and churlish" party accusations that they were internationalising the issue.
But the party quickly distanced itself from his views. "Jethmalani is Jethmalani. He has his own opinion. The party does not subscribe to it...We have already expressed our official line." BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
Jethmalani contradicted the party line and supported the three interlocutors appointed by the Centre to elicit the views of all segments to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. Stating that interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar and his team's task of finding a "peaceful and lasting solution" to the Kashmir problem is "almost superhuman", Jethmalani said he "fervently" prayed for their success, despite having "serious misgivings".
"Even if they achieve partial result the nation would owe them a debt of gratitude. Neither by acts nor by words we should add to their difficulties," he said. The BJP had accused Padgaonkar of internationalising the Kashmir problem after he said a solution to the issue was not possible without involving Pakistan.
The party had also questioned whether he was given the brief by the Centre to make such statements and sought a clarification from the Prime Minister's Office on the matter. Now, Jethmalani has taken a position diametrically opposed to that of his party. "It is childish and churlish to attack them as internationalising the issue. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by his confabulations with President Pervez Musharraf and recently Foreign Minister S M Krishna confabulating with his counterpart Mr (Shah Mehmood) Qureshi were exactly doing that," Jethmalani said.
"Dialogue with Pakistan is a compulsory legacy of the Simla Agreement of 1972. We cannot wish it out of existence," he added. Jethmalani maintained that Pakistan was the "root of the problem" as it was sending infiltrators and terrorists to India who were working on its directions. "Even then if you say you won't talk to Pakistan it is not realistic," he said.
When informed that BJP does not agree with his views, Jethmalani said one should "leave aside BJP". "BJP has not done much thinking on this issue...We should not pay much attention to it (what BJP has said)....You join a political party because you have less disagreements with that party than any other. If you agree 100 per cent you cease to be a human being," Jethmalani said.
The Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan insisted that though party discipline is important this did not mean that a person become a "robot, mortgage his humanism and have no right to speak". The eminent lawyer, known for his polemical stand on several issues, maintained that India cannot do away with the Simla Agreement- "in which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto fooled Indira Gandhi....who unsolved the problem that had been solved by Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Tashkent Agreement"- and so will have to talk to Pakistan.
Jethmalani suggested that secular democracies should be asked to mediate on this issue as they would "unhesitatingly" accept India's case. "Talks with Pakistan alone so far have not yielded satisfactory results," he said. "I appeal to everyone to strengthen our three interlocutors," he added.
Meanwhile, BJP took fresh digs at Padgaonkar after the interlocutors met some militants lodged in jail in Kashmir. "Talking to the youth is understandable but talking to foreign militants who are lodged in jail is completely wrong as they have no stake in the country," Javadekar said. He further maintained that Padgaonkar should have been more discrete.
"Padgaonkar is a senior journalist and knows the importance of being discrete. He should not make running commentaries everyday. He should exercise discretion. Indiscretion is irresponsibility," he said.