Kounsar Bashir
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, is planning to make a massive entry into the Jammu Kashmir polls with key focus on the Jammu region.
After a huge victory in the Punjab polls, the party is seeing a heightened activity in its Jammu office located at Gandhinagar in the city. The party is also witnessing the joining of candidates, activists every single day, sources told The Kashmiriyat.
“Small trader bodies, job seekers along with various other sections of society angered over the developments post the abrogation of Articles 35-A and Article 370 have promised full support to the party,” they said.
Industrialists expected some sort of support, but they got none and most of the units functioning in Bari Brahmana industrial estate are non-functional now, which angered the industrialists who see Kejriwal’s AAP as an alternative since they are apprehensive about the Kashmir-based political parties.
The Aam Aadmi Party has not confined its activities to Jammu belt alone, they are stretching their cadre to Pir Panjal and Chenab valley too.
Recently, the party held a ‘Pad yatra’ in the Doda region of Jammu Kashmir which evoked a massive response. “Jammu Kashmir is marching towards new dawn with Aam Aadmi Party! Let us and you together create a new J&K!!” AAP’s Twitter handle wrote.
The party’s MP Sanjay Singh, on Friday, said, “After the victory in the recent assembly elections in Punjab, the acceptance of the Aam Aadmi Party has increased across the country and it is being seen as an alternative at the national level.”
The party’s recent stance on ‘The Kashmir files’ is also being seen as a part of its preparations for the elections in the Jammu Kashmir region. Lashing out at the politicization of Kashmiri Pandits’ tragedy, Sanjay Singh said, “The movie should be uploaded to YouTube. The BJP has done a lot for Kashmir Files, but nothing for the Kashmiri Pandits.”
As the timings for elections in the region still remain a mystery, the BJP has asked its cadre to prepare for the upcoming elections in the region. “We will form the next Government in the region, there is no doubt,” BJP state president Ravinder Raina said.
As part of the Centre’s special ‘Public Outreach Program,’ 70 Union Ministers visited Jammu Kashmir in a phased manner from September 9 to October 5, 2021. The move was not seen as a mere visit. High-level meetings were held in Jammu Kashmir to woo the party cadre. Sources say that the visits were a part of BJP’s preparation for the upcoming assembly elections.
BJP’s influence in Jammu can be figured out from plain stats. BJP won 25 seats in the region and enjoyed the highest vote share than any other party with a vote share of 23%. In Kashmir valley, its performance was dismal with a 2.2% vote share despite all the hype surrounding its efforts. BJP won a total of 25 seats out of 37 in the Jammu region to become the second-largest party in the region. In 2008, benefiting from the agitation in favour of the land granted to SASB, the BJP had won 11 seats in the Jammu, while the Congress had won 13 seats.
After the abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi-led government in 2019 August, a Delimitation Commission was formed by the government. Assembly elections have not been held in the region since June 2018 when the BJP pulled out of the coalition government with the PDP.
The commission, in its draft proposal discussed in New Delhi, increased the number of Assembly seats in the Jammu region from 37 to 43 while in Kashmir, the tally has been increased from 46 to 47. The new tally gives BJP a clear edge, which could help it form a government in the region, completely ignoring the Kashmir seat share in assembly polls.
However, this is may not be the picture. Dismayed over the BJPs ‘failure’ in addressing several key issues including growing unemployment, the overcrowded office of AAP in Jammu is being seen as a political message, sources said. They said that several BJP workers disappointed over key issues, including the delimitation proposal, are joining the Aam Aadmi Party.
Traders’ bodies in Jammu are aghast over the stoppage of the decades-old tradition of secretariat shift in the region. “We were massively dependent on people who came from Kashmir. They shop in Jammu, but due to the secretariat’s non-shifting, there were very less Kashmiris in Jammu, this year. This cost people a lot,” a trader from Jammu said.
The traders were also unhappy about the opening of Reliance Stores in Jammu. They said, “Opening of 100 retail stores in Jammu province alone by Reliance amounts to a big loss for the small traders and self-employed educated youth.” A bandh was also observed in September 2021 in regard to this issue.
Sources privy to the information said that AAP is seeing a huge joining and oath of support from the business fraternity of Jammu. But if the mathematics of crowds can convert into the chemistry of voters remains to be seen. “Kejriwal’s sweep in Punjab has left everyone surprised. He himself and top party leaders are looking at the activities and the party wants to make stringer in-routes to Jammu Kashmir,” Sources said.