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| Opposition of BJP to Congress is an attempt to help the cornered NC | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 4: A three-member delegation of local BJP leaders, headed by the BJP state president, has gone to Delhi to discuss with the party bosses the situation arising out of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir and work out a strategy designed to expose the NC-Congress ruling coalition. These Jammu-based BJP leaders, along with some party bosses, are scheduled to meet the Prime Minister tomorrow to express their concern over the deteriorating situation in the Valley.
Insiders say that the BJP party high command has made up its mind to ask the local BJP leaders to launch a movement in Jammu to put pressure on the state government so that it acts and delivers and brings situation under control. The stated goal of the BJP leaders will be, according to insiders, to make the state government "act or quit."
It is extremely doubtful if the BJP would be able to garner public support considering the controversial role the BJP played during the July 12 all-party meeting organized by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at Srinagar. The people had not taken kindly to the BJP's support to the official resolution asking New Delhi to start external and internal dialogue, as also to the presence of the BJP state president during the press conference address by Omar Abdullah after the end of meeting. What has widened the gulf between the people of Jammu and the BJP was the press conference the BJP state president, along with a few of his party colleagues, addressed in Jammu after attending the all-party meeting. The BJP state president had extended unstinted support to the NC-led government. It was this gesture on the part of the BJP and its role during the all-party meeting that had prompted the JKNPP to dub the BJP as the "C-team of the NC." So much so that the JKNPP had alleged that the "BJP's press statements are prepared in the office of the NC and betted by the NC leaders."
Even otherwise, the state BJP has fallen from grace because of its various acts of omission and commission, including its non-performance in the assembly, its dual stand on the issue of delimitation, Article 370 and the cause of the people of Jammu province. People have come to realize that the BJP has no specific Jammu-centric agenda and that it only indulges in politics of "deceit, double-speak, emotional blackmail and rhetoric." It says one thing publicly, but dos exactly the opposite.
One of the specific complaints of the people against the BJP is that it has virtually compromised its stand on Jammu and Kashmir in order to appease Kashmiri separatists and Islamabad. Another specific complaint of the people of Jammu is that the BJP has neither supported the demand of the people of Jammu province seeking appointment of a local academician as Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University nor did it support the bandh call given by the Jammu Central University Morcha (conglomerate of about dozen Jammu-based organizations) to put pressure on the authorities in New Delhi to accept their demand. The people of Jammu have also not forgotten the indifferent and negative attitude of the BJP to the bandh call given by the JKNPP on the gender issue.
That the BJP has become thoroughly unpopular became more than evident on July 3, when the people rebuffed the BJP, the VHP, the SAYSS and similar other so-called pro-Hindu and pro-Jammu formations by ignoring the bandh call. The bandh was a total flop. Even Kachi Chowni, where the party headquarters are located, did not observe bandh. On the contrary, Jammu witnessed a massive bandh on May 1. The call for this bandh had been given by the JCUM. The manner in which the people of Jammu observed bandh clearly demonstrated that they would support only those who will take up their cause.
According to insiders, the local BJP, at the behest of the party high command, will denounce the Congress more as compared to the NC. Insiders say that the BJP holds the Congress more responsible for the troubles in Kashmir. Even here the approach of the BJP will be misleading. It would not demand imposition of governor's rule. Nor will it ask Omar Abdullah to step down. It will ask the Congress to withdraw its support to the government.
In other words, the BJP's target will be the Congress. It is understandable. The BJP, which has 11 MLAs, cannot enter into an alliance with the Congress because it considers the Congress as untouchable. It finds itself comfortable in the company of the NC, and even the PDP. It is no more a secret that the relations between the BJP and the NC are very cordial. Had the BJP won, say, 20 to 23 seats in the last elections, it would have entered into an alliance with the NC and formed government. Since the BJP did not reach that number, all its hopes got dashed to the ground. The attitude of the BJP to the NC has not undergone any change whatever. It is more than evident.
Hence, the report that the BJP will launch a scathing attack on the Congress on or after August 6 needs to be viewed in the context of the cordial relations it maintains with the protagonist of greater autonomy, the NC. The aim of the BJP is, it appears, to help out the NC. This is the BJP. It wants to share power at whatever cost.
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