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| Day dreaming: BJP's 44+ mission in J&K | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 22: On the day the J&K unit of the BJP got a new nominated president, a senior BJP leader, who is also a Minister in the Mufti-led coalition Government, made a ridiculous assertion that the BJP will stick to its ideology and pursue its core agenda till the time it didn't achieve its mission 44+ in the State. It is hardly necessary to reflect on his statement on the BJP's so-called ideology, as everyone in the State and rest of the country knows that the party's only ideology is power and nothing else and that it is known more for dilution of its ideology than anything else.
The issue here under reference is the assertion of the BJP leader that the party's ideology has all the potential of enabling it to achieve its Mission 44+. It's just a day-dreaming. The BJP could win 25 seats - all from Jammu - and bite dust both in Kashmir and Ladakh in the 2014 Assembly elections when the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi was on the top in bulk of the country. Things have changed and changed to the extent that the BJP, which won all the elections in 2014, including the general elections and Assembly elections, suffered only massive defeats in 2015.
The BJP was decimated by the Delhi electorate and the Bihar electorate in very crucial Assembly elections. The Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam Lok Sabha electorate inflicted a crushing defeat on the BJP candidate and voted for the Congress candidate. Ratlam was considered the BJP's core constituency. The BJP was also rebuffed by the UP electorate in the just-held Panchayat elections. The nature of the defeat of the BJP could be determined from the fact that its candidates were routed even in the constituencies which fell within the Lok Sabha constituencies represented by senior BJP leaders and Ministers, including the Prime Minister. It was a humiliating defeat by any yardstick. Even the electorate of Gujarat, the home State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, didn't spare the BJP. The Congress captured the whole of rural Gujarat and the BJP had to content with six victories in the Municipal Corporation elections. And, last week, the electorate of the BJP-ruled Jharkhand inflicted defeat on the NDA candidate in the Lohardaga Assembly by-election and voted for the Congress candidate. The Congress snatched the seat with a huge margin over 20,000 votes.
The fact of the matter is that anti-BJP wave is sweeping the country, including J&K. In Jammu province, which only a year ago pinned faith in the BJP, it has become untouchable for all practical purposes. Even the cadres and supporters of the BJP have abandoned the party, saying the party "ditched its constituency for joining the Government in the State". "It would be a great victory if the BJP wins even half a dozen seats in the next Assembly elections in J&K" is the general view of the party leaders, cadres and supporters, whatever be their number left now.
The proposed local bodies' elections and panchayat elections in the State, if at all held, will show where the BJP actually stands. It was not an off-the-cuff remark when the newly-nominated president said that the upcoming elections at the grassroots-level will be "litmus test" for the party. |
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