Two Protests, Two Realities

The useful part

Secretariat, raising questions over unemployment, electricity tariffs, recruitment and governance. Conference chose to protest against the BJP and sought to march towards its office in Jawahar Nagar, primarily raising the unresolved question of restoration of statehood and the promises made by the Union government. That is not a distinction that can simply be erased by describing the day as two rival political protests.

How it works

• There were two political expressions, but they did not receive the same political space.
• It has every right to raise unemployment, electricity prices, recruitment or allegations of corruption.
• The same principle must apply when the National Conference questions the BJP.
• This is where the BJP's protest today raises another uncomfortable question.
• The BJP speaks about unemployment, recruitment, corruption and governance as though these problems appeared in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.

What to take from it

Many of the structural problems confronting the region today are part of a much longer political and administrative inheritance, including the years in which the BJP and PDP shar...

Details worth keeping

Today was one such moment in Jammu and Kashmir. There was a fundamental difference in what happened next. The BJP has every democratic right to question the government of the day.