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| BJP's 'Mission 44+' seems unlikely with present set of leaders | | | Bharat Bhushan
Jammu, Sept 18: BJP's national leadership has set a target of 44+ seats in the state polls with a view to form government in J&K on its own but it seems unlikely with the present set of local leaders who have a very low public credibility. The cadre and supporters are also very low on morale because of the negative publicity about BJP's internal bickerings. Differences between some party "veterans" too seem to have taken roots. They have developed so much disliking and hatred for each other that they even don't want to see each other's face.
During elections, some are even heard praying for the defeat of others. This is an open secret. All in the party know about the lack of coordination and deficit of mutual trust among the old heads. The re-entry of Chaman Lal Gupta, Jagdish Spolia and other BJP MLAs, who were ousted from the party for their alleged involvement in the infamous cash-for-vote scam, has made others insecure. These MLAs accuse their party colleagues, also MLAs, of deliberately dragging their names in the scam just to defame them. They are back in the party and will now be waiting for their turn to take a revenge on their rivals.
There is nothing new about infighting in the state BJP. In the last J&K polls, because of the dissension, the party had failed to fully cash in on the Bhum-Bhum Bholey agitation when its acceptability was at its peak in Jammu region. The infighting is still intact and one cannot expect any good for the party in the upcoming Assembly polls till the veterans sink their differences and face the electorate unitedly. This is very important.
Unlike its central body, which has the likes of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj, the state BJP has the dearth of charismatic leaders. And those, who were known for raising their voice against any wrong-doing of the state administration, too seem to have become ineffective. The government no more takes them seriously. Reason: They are alleged to be visiting the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues for personal favours, sacrificing the interests of general masses. There are a few instances which show that there is some truth behind these allegations.
When Farooq Abdullah was Chief Minister, there was a heated debate in the State Assembly over the issue of corruption. BJP's Choudhary Piara Singh was trying to explain how the State Government was riddled with corruption when another city MLA rose from his seat and raised anti-Farooq and anti-NC slogans. As usual, he did not have anything convincing to say on the topic.
Farooq had then angrily reacted to the sloganeering and reprimanded the MLA. To the surprise of all those who were in the press gallery, the MLA had quickly and obligingly taken his seat and put his head down without uttering a single word. He had not dared to ask Farooq why he had rebuked him like a school headmaster.
The NC leader, who is otherwise known for making off-the-cuff, tongue-in-cheek remarks, looked serious when he remarked: "You people come to me with applications for personal favours. Sit down ........, sit down."
A few minutes later, this BJP MLA, feigning innocence and supporting a fake smile, had walked to the Chief Minister's desk. Though the conversation between the two was not audible, it was felt that the MLA was apologising for his "guilt" of speaking against his "master". This happens only when one is not on the right track.
About two years back, NC leader and Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar had made an otherwise "objectionable" remark while BJP MLAs were holding an anti-government protest outside the Assembly hall here. "Bolo-bolo, sham ko to aap hamari hi tarf hote ho," he had remarked laughingly.
A few months back, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah too had assailed the BJP leaders for trying to project his government as anti-people and themselves as "well-wishers" of Jammu. "You people have never come to me with issues of Jammu but have been regularly visiting me for personal favours," he had remarked.
Not only this, when PDP-Congress government was in power in the state and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the Chief Minister, a BJP MLA had gone to Gandhi Nagar with a handful of his supporters and protested outside the official residence of a PDP Minister for "certain" reasons. This MLA had that time created a scene there to allegedly oblige a senior police officer.
With such kind of leaders at the fore front, how can BJP think of achieving the target of 44+ seats? This is just impossible. To even win a respectable number of seats, it would be needing the faces who have a track record of honesty and integrity. But sorry to say, the local BJP unit does not seem to have any such leader. And those, who are acceptable to the masses to some extent, have already been sidelined. Sycophants can't contribute to achieve the target which as of now seems to be unachievable. The party needs to go for a sincere introspection before facing the electorate. |
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