Srinagar, Nov. 9 -- In Kashmir, political resignations are seldom simple departures. They are announcements, accusations, provocations and sometimes the beginning of entirely new political equations. But Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi's resignation from the National Conference and Parliament on November 3 has produced an intriguing question: Has New Delhi managed to kill two birds with one stone?

The first bird is the National Conference. The second, perhaps, Ruhullah himself.

What makes this possibility worth examining is not merely the resignation, but what followed - or, more precisely, what BJP national vice-president Ram Madhav chose to say about it.

Speaking to journalists, Madhav declared that Ruhullah was holding his Budgam rally with...