Party must attend more to Kashmir and tribals
Amidst its victory in Jharkhand and an impressive second place in Jammu & Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party cannot afford to miss the negatives which have to be tackled in the coming months. Although the party has given its best ever performance in the latter State and actually has a slightly larger vote-share than the winner, the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, all its 25 seats have come from the Jammu region. It drew a blank in Kashmir, with all but one of its 34 candidates losing their deposits. It also received less than 2.3 per cent of the total votes polled.
It is true that the battle for the BJP in Kashmir was tough, with both the PDP and the National Conference having cultivated a strong base there over the years. Moreover, in the eyes of many voters there, mostly Muslims, there was a certain baggage that the party and its leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried — and this was fully exploited by both the PDP and the NC. While these perceptions may not have been justified, they were there, nevertheless, and worked to the BJP's disadvantage. However, the party did make its presence felt and managed to gather crowds during the meetings its candidates conducted. It must now build on this momentum to infuse trust among the people in Kashmir valley.
One of the solutions to do so could lie in the kind of Government that will be formed in the State. It appears at the moment that the BJP is poised to play a major role in this direction. Whether it becomes part of a coalition regime or supports a party from the outside to form the new Government, it must ensure that its decision sends out the signal that it is willing to reach out to Kashmir, although the region did not elect any of its candidates to the State Assembly. This it must do on terms that do not compromise the aspirations of the people of Jammu who have voted for the party in such an overwhelming manner. Of course, voters from both Kashmir and Jammu are primarily looking for inclusive development, and this is what the BJP must assure and deliver upon, whether in the State or at the Centre. The BJP's tryst with Kashmir valley has just begun, and not ended.
In Jharkhand, the BJP to some extent failed to make a significant dent in the influence of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in tribal constituencies. Of the 28 reserved seats for the STs, the party won 11 — only two more than in 2009; although given its lok Sabha performance, it must have been expecting more. The gainer was the JMM, which, contesting on its own and without its old partner, the Congress, bagged three seats more than the 10 it had in the previous election. The BJP has to enhance its outreach in tribal-dominated constituencies and build up credible leaders from the community in the State even as it signals its refusal to blatantly play the tribal versus non-tribal card. The party has managed that well in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.