In the ongoing debate over the "alienation" versus “integration” of Jammu & Kashmir, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one leader whose popularity in the strife-torn Kashmir Valley never waned.
"On Thursday, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted: “Can never forget the love and affection he showered upon me every time we met.” The BJP recently withdrew from the alliance government with the PDP in June.
Turning emotional, National Congress chief Farooq Abdullah said, “He was a leader who wanted to take all sections of people. He had love for everyone.” His son Omar Abdullah prayed for “Vajpayee Sahib and his family."
Vajpayee’s line on Kashmir when he said that the issue can be resolved within the parameters of “Insaniyat (humanity), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (eclectic Kashmiri culture) at a rally in the Valley in 2003 resonates even today, and he has a special place in the political firmament of the people in the militancy-torn state.
Ever since the BJP-PDP alliance was firmed up to form a government in March 2015, the Vajpayee model of resolving Kashmir issue kept coming up.
Mehbooba's father and founder of the PDP Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said in 2015 that he expects the prime minister to do an Atal Bihari Vajpayee and reach out to Pakistan.
Vajpayee’s famous remarks have found resonance time and again whenever the Kashmir issue came to a boiling point.
In 2017, even Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in a video address to his supporters, said: “We want India to exhibit 'Insaniyat', 'Kashmiriat' and 'Jamhooriyat' (democracy). Nothing else.”
The famous remarks of Vajpayee resonated once again on August 15 from the ramparts of the Red Fort, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi unequivocally said: “Regarding Jammu & Kashmir, the path shown by Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji is the right one. We want to move ahead on that road."
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