news details |
|
|
| 'BJP talks about Kashmiriyat, ignores Dogriyat and Ladakhiat' | | Congress promises regional councils | | Masood Malik
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 24: Finding itself on a weak wicket, the Congress has come out with an election strategy to impress the voters in Jammu and Kashmir. Its strategy has three components: Attack on the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party and the BJP, focus on inter-regional tensions and "communal" politics of the BJP and reorganization of the administrative set-up to give administrative and financial powers to each of the three regions. It was AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who explained her party's position while addressing rallies at Ramban and Bandipora. The Congress election manifesto, which was released today, also talked about the need to have regional councils in the state and promised, among other things, a delimitation commission and declared that Article 370 shall not be allowed to be abrogated.
It is difficult to say if the poll promises made by Sonia Gandhi and the Congress manifesto would improve the party position in these crucial assembly elections, but these can be termed as serious moves to impress the voters, especially in Jammu province. The Congress party feels that the regional council poll plank and its promise that it will end discrimination with Jammu, if voted to power, can bolster its image. Those who are managing the Congress campaign have been trying to give the people of Jammu province to understand that they remain their first choice, as the Congress had been in power in the state for ten years without a break.
In contrast, the BJP has not come out with any poll plank that could impress the voters in Jammu. On the contrary, the BJP poll managers are ignoring them and making statements which are Kashmir-centric. They are feeling let down as the BJP is propagating the Vajpayee line on Jammu and Kashmir that suits Pakistan, the Kashmiri parties and Kashmiri separatists. They are complaining that the "BJP is only talking about Kashmiriyat and ignoring Dogriyat and Ladakhiat". "The BJP is no different from the National Conference and the Congress," they are saying, and adding they are not the first choice of the BJP".
The Kashmri Pandits, who have been living in exile since 1990, too, have been criticizing the BJP and its poll planks. They are saying the "BJP has disappointed them by dropping from its agenda its old demand for abrogation of Article 370 and commending Kashmiriyat which is responsible for their migration from Kashmir". They, like the people of Jammu, have several other complaints against the BJP and are discussing what they call "serious implications of the BJP's policy towards Kashmir and its likely impact on the minorities".
From the whisper campaign that is going on in social circles in Jammu and migrant camps it appears the BJP is damaging its position. There are indications that many supporters and admirers of the BJP may not vote. If it happens, the non-BJP parties would be the beneficiaries. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
