BJP has a special responsibility matching its mandate and narrative in Kashmir during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls where in it needs to demonstrate that it has a new vision for the place and people. This time, BJP, has added several notches to its own stated position since it returned to power in 2014, with the decisions taken on August 5, 2019, when it did away with the abrogation of Article 370 dealing a body blow to the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two federally administered union territories of J&K, and Ladakh.
The abrogation of Article 370 and the election target of winning as many seats in the Lok Sabha polls has brought many responsibilities for the BJP to shoulder in Kashmir Valley. Politically, its narrative of the target of 370 seats in the polls will all depend on how it fares in Kashmir, and it is also a moral imperative that it justifies its August 5, 2019 actions in more than what it has gained for Kashmir so far, and how it sees the future of Kashmir. It has laid a foundation for what it believes would be its future map for Kashmir but the full picture is yet to be unfolded.
The August 5, 2019, is not just a date on the calendar. It was a watershed moment for the saffron party for it achieved what it had been saying for decades, first as Jan Sangha and later in its present-day reincarnation as BJP, founded in 1980. The party claims to have liberated Kashmir yet again – reversing what it deemed as shackles on Kashmiris and the rest of the country due to the constitutional provisions that allowed J&K to have special status, symbols of semi-sovereign state within the Indian union and conferred special privileges and rights to the people of the state.
Now it has chosen a target of winning 370 seats in Lok Sabha elections -2024. This goal has been chosen after a great calculation – it rhymes with Article 370, and the party is moving it fast forward movement for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country. The rhyme has its own effect for the nation that was made to believe that had this constitutional provision stayed in the constitution, it would have been a drift toward the disintegration of this highly strategic and beautiful place toward its disintegration from the country. Pakistan, through the export of terrorism, and incitement of anti-India sentiment within the state, would have grabbed the territory or could have closer to it. This has not been stated in as many words, but this perception has been drilled home across homes and institutions in the country.
Kashmir has occupied Centre-stage in BJP’s campaign across the country. It is not necessary to mention the “K” word but the very number of 370 brings it into picture and it is further magnified when the number of 370 is placed as a victory goal for the party.
The party is banking on linking the abrogation of Article 370 to the state of liberation as it works both ways. It is projected as a dawn of absolute liberation and liberty for the countrymen to visit and settle in Jammu and Kashmir without any constitutional barriers. The non-permanent residents of the state were not able to buy immovable property or settle in J&K, but now all these redlines have gone, and there are no chances of things going back to pre-August 5, 2019 days as the abrogation of Article 370 has been conferred a legal and constitutional sanctity by the Supreme Court in its December 11, 2023 judgment.
For Kashmiris, they are being reminded that they and their lives were captive to the terrorism unleashed by Pakistan and its agents in Kashmir – it is a throwback to the days when Kashmir was under siege because of bombs, bullets, stone-throwing and uncounted calls of shutdowns.” They can now breathe easily because of the fearless atmosphere because Article 370 is gone,” so said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his rally in Srinagar on March 7.
This narrative dominating the election campaign for this year’s Lok Sabha elections, it has become a national necessity for the party to win at least one out of three seats in the Valley. It knows what it would mean to win 400 seats if there is no representation from the Valley. BJP had won three seats from Jammu and Kashmir state – two from Hindu dominated Jammu region, and one from Ladakh, nil from Kashmir Valley. Now it has to demonstrate that it has transformed things. The people’s will should demonstrate that. Therefore, it cannot escape the responsibility of adding new points in its narrative beyond the abolition of Article 370.
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