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| A phase that will determine the fate of BJP | | Intense campaigning | |
Masood Malik
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 16: Convinced that the party has not put up a good show in the first four phases of elections, the BJP has fielded all its top leaders and many others from different states of the country, including RSS cadres, to mobilize public opinion in favour of its candidates in the 20 constituencies which are going to the polls in the last phase of election on December 20. It is a phase that would determine the fate of the BJP is the view of the poll managers of the BJP and the view is rightly based on the assessment of the party leaders. The 20 assembly constituencies which will go to polls in the last phase include 11 constituencies in Jammu district, 5 in Kathua district and 4 in Rajouri district. In the last assembly election in 2008, the BJP had won 10 seats. The constituencies which the BJP had won included Bani, Basohli, Hiranagar, Suchetgarh, RS Pura, Jammu East, Jammu west, Marh, Raipur-Domana and Nagrota.
According to insiders, "the BJP couldn't put up a good show either in Jammu province and Ladakh region because the party's star campaigners, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, didn't offer anything attractive to the people of these two provinces and hence, the resultant poor show". They also informed that "the party's star campaigners only focused on Kashmir and Kashmiriyat, which did not inspire the people of Jammu and Ladakh" and that "had the party leadership also highlighted the problems, aspirations and needs of the people of these two regions, the story of the BJP would have been quite different and it would have been in a position to emerge as the single largest party in the state".
Indeed, the election strategists in the BJP have realized all this and have started raking up the issue of discrimination with Jammu hoping this line could help the BJP improve its position. The constituencies where the BJP is facing strong candidates include Bani, Billawar, Kathua, Hiranagar, Samba, Vijaupur, RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Gandhinagar, Jammu West, Marh, Akhnoor, Nagrota and Rajouri. These are the constituencies which the BJP wants to win to remain relevant in the state politics. In the constituencies like Darhal, the BJP has little or no chance. And the constituencies where the BJP appears somewhat strong are Bishnah, Jammu East, Nowshara and Kalakot. Incidentally, these are also the constituencies which the BJP never represented in the Assembly.
That the BJP poll managers have changed their strategy to woo the voters in these 20 constituencies could be seen from what senior BJP leader and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday during the seminar in Jammu. He talked about discrimination with Jammu and Ladakh and urged the people to vote for the BJP so that they got justice and fair share in the state's polity. Besides, he took on the Kashmiri leadership, saying they denied the people of Jammu province proper representation in the assembly and adopted an employment policy that was against the Jammu youth. It was for the first time in almost 50 days that any BJP leader raked up the issue of discrimination with Jammu province. "If Jammu people want to get rid of discrimination they have got a golden opportunity to write a new chapter in history by making BJP's Mission 44+ a reality," he, among other things, said. A couple of days before, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also talked about the youth of Kathua and other problems facing the people of Kathua and Rajouri districts and reassured the people of these two districts that all of their grievances would be redressed if the BJP was voted to power in the state. Today also, PM Modi raked up the issue of discrimination at MAM Stadium and urged the people of Jammu not to elect any candidate belonging to what he called Kashmiri parties.
All this shows that the BJP has now decided to rake up the issue of discrimination in a big way in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri in order to win maximum number of seats. However, it is difficult to say if the somewhat changed strategy would click and help it turn tables on the Congress and other political parties which are also not leaving any stone unturned to capture as many seats as possible. There is no doubt that the fifth and the last phase of election is very crucial for the BJP. If it is to remain relevant in the state politics, it has to put up a very good show. |
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