Jammu, September 23: The PDP-BJP coalition government has been facing sever teething problems since its inception and despite more than six months in the governance the problem is refusing to go and the coalition continues to get goose bumps with every passing day.
The coalition is trying hard to learn the governance and maintain peace and tranquility in the state with one of the partners having mastered the art and the other one just learning it from a scratch making it a highly imbalanced partnership giving rise to ever new political controversies in the state.
The latest to hit the coalition is the ban on beef controversy with BJP trying to sell it in Jammu as their achievement and the PDP rejecting it to keep their own constituency safe in Kashmir.
With Eid-Ul Azha round the corner and the open revolt by separatists and common man in Kashmir regarding ban on beef, the social media is abuzz with rumours of government trying to ban the internet to save the situation during Eid festival by restricting the people from sharing the pictures of possible cow slaughter in Kashmir valley.
Even though government was yet to come out with a statement till this report was filed there is every possibility that such a blanket ban on social media might be announced keeping in view the ban on SMS by the government during Amarnath agitation onwards.
However for a common man it is like beating around the bush by the government to save its own face, inaction and lack of will power by resorting to indirect actions rather than confronting the situation by nipping the evil in the bud to show that a government actually exists in the state which can implement its own orders or that of the courts of the land.
The ban on internet is a clear indication that government is trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the law breakers thus exposing its weakness to govern and tame its own people within the coalition who are hell bent upon communalizing the situation by instigating people to defy the ban citing religious sentiments.
The government should have come out with a clear statement whether it was for or against the ban and if it was against the ban then challenge the court order and if was for the ban then implement the orders in letter and spirit without any leniency.
But the fact is that the coalition is divided over the ban as BJP which has been crying hoarse till now seeking effective implementation on cow slaughter in the state has suddenly developed cold feet and hiding behind the rhetoric of banning the internet as otherwise how could the BJP justify the sacking of AAG and DAG from the posts by a PDP minister making them responsible for the controversy.
This act clearly shows that PDP was treating BJP as second fiddle whose writ hardly runs in the state with their own people being kicked around and BJP adopting criminal silence over the issue.
Since cow slaughter has been banned from the times of Maharajas and the recent order was only to implement it effectively there should have been no problem with the state government to exercise its power and do the needful instead of creating a big controversy due to its weakness of acting tough.
The time demands that BJP exerts itself and declares its stand on the ban instead of becoming the yes man of coalition partner by banning the internet instead of implementing the court orders.
The situation demands the either the government nips the evil in the bud by implementing the court orders in letter and spirit or declare that it was against the ban so that communal passions are not aroused, to save the state from plunging into another blaze of communal violence.
In either case banning the internet is no solution but only an exercise to beat around the bush hoping the devil to runaway on its own instead of taking the bull by its horns.