The BJP’s rise in Jammu & Kashmir has enormous significance. There will, for the first time, be a regime that is Jammu-centric as much as it is valley-centric
No one, not even any Bharatiya Janata Party leader, had ever imagined that the BJP, which till May 2014, was not even considered to be a political force to reckon with in Jammu & Kashmir, would become a part of the State Government. But this is destined to happen anytime now.
On February 24, the BJP national president, Mr Amit Shah, and the Peoples Democratic Party president, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, addressed a joint Press conference in Delhi to inform the nation that the PDP and the BJP will soon form a coalition Government in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
The decision of the ideologically poles apart parties to form a coalition can be described as a landmark in the political history of the BJP. This will be the first time that the people of Jammu province and the Kashmir valley will have an equal say in the governance of the State.
“An important chapter has been opened in the political history of Jammu & Kashmir and in the history of relations between Jammu province and Kashmir valley,” opined a keen Jammu & Kashmir-watcher, while reflecting on the decision of the PDP and the BJP.
Indeed, the people of both regions will have a fair share in the Government of the State and the people of Jammu province will be, for the first time, associated in the everyday administration of their affairs. Hitherto, all the Governments in the State were patently Kashmir-centric, with the people of Jammu and ladakh having little or no say in the governance of the State.
This happened because the Jammu-based leadership of the Congress and the National Conference, instead of appreciating the needs, aspirations and compulsions of their core constituencies in Jammu and ladakh, invariably danced to the tunes of their Kashmiri masters to promote their own selfish interests.
The point is that both the PDP and the BJP are and will be evenly balanced in the Jammu & Kashmir legislative Assembly, the highest law-making body, which also discusses and decides questions of supreme importance to the well-being and happiness of the people.
Besides, the BJP will have an equal number of Ministers with the PDP in the State Cabinet and Council of Ministers. It is important to note that the BJP also enjoys the support of two MlAs belonging to the Kashmir-based People’s Conference of Mr Sajjad lone. In other words, the PDP and the BJP+ have an equal number of lawmakers in the legislative Assembly.
Things for the BJP in Jammu & Kashmir have dramatically changed. The party has become a pan-Jammu & Kashmir party. It has four MPs who represent the State in Parliament. It has more than two dozen MlAs and it will have at least eight members in the Jammu & Kashmir legislative Council by March 27.
The BJP has already won two seats in the legislative Council elections unopposed — one member is from the Kashmir valley and the other from ladakh. In other words, the BJP will have representatives in the State legislature from all the three regions. Indeed, the BJP has created a history of sorts in Jammu & Kashmir.
(The writer is former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jammu)