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| BJP-Panthers trying desperately to catch the missed bus | | Dogra Certificate | |
MINCING NO WORDS
NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 4: Convinced that they burnt their boats and lost the invaluable opportunity to capture political space from the Congress party by voting in favour of the NC, Congress and PDP candidates seeking election to the legislative council on April 13, the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) have been trying desperately to recapture the lost political space. The leadership of these two so-called Jammu-centric and nation-centric formations, which remained in hibernation until May 2 for reasons not difficult to fathom, have suddenly become active and the issue they have taken up is the one that the NC-Congress coalition clinched in favour of the regressive and anti-Dogra forces in Kashmir on April 28, much to chagrin of the Dogras of Jammu province.
The case in point is the controversial and provocative decision of the pro-fundamentalist and anti-Dogra governments in the state and New Delhi to withdraw the March 25 order on Dogra certificate. Both the BJP and JKNPP have, it appears, thought that they can turn the tables and win back the trust of the alienated Dogras by raking up the issue of Dogra certificate or by demanding the revocation of the April 28 order. That’s the reason both these formations have become somewhat active.
The last two days have witnessed the otherwise crestfallen and demoralised BJP and the JKNPP activists holding anti-government demonstrations at different places in Jammu province and burning the effigies of the Chief Minister, Revenue Minister and other NC-Congress ministers and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The leaders of these formations, including chairman of the JKNPP, have accused the state government of kneeling and submitting to the dictates of Geelani and other Kashmiri separatists, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and described the government decision to revoke the March 25 order as an onslaught on the Dogras. The JKNPP chairman has gone to extent of describing the decision as an “insult to ten million Dogras” and asked the state government to implement the March 25 order in letter and spirit so that the hurt feelings of the Dogras are assuaged.
It is significant to note that none of the Dogras is feeling impressed with what the BJP and the JKNPP have started doing. The general opinion is that both these parties have already missed the bus and that what they have started doing is nothing but an exercise in self-deception. No one can question the Dogras who have turned hostile against the BJP and the JKNPP. Their grouse against these two formations appears genuine when considered in the light of what the BJP, JKNPP and JSM legislators did on April 13.
However, to write all this is not to suggest that the BJP and JKNPP cannot restore the ground they have lost. They can retrieve the situation provided they are willing to tender what the Dogras call an “unconditional apology” and hold out a categorical commitment that they would never ditch and let down them by hobnobbing with those who are responsible for the neglect of the Dogras and for the nation’s troubles in Kashmir and those who have been seeking autonomy or self-rule for the state. The Dogras, who have lost their faith in the Jammu-based political class, are keeping a close watch on all the developments as well as the activities the BJP and the JKNPP have started undertaking. It appears extremely doubtful if they would turn to these two formations in the near future. The BJP and the JKNPP would have to work very, very hard to win back the trust of the Dogras. Why not? Why should they not pay from their nose for the political crime they committed by making common cause with the Congress, the NC and the PDP on April 13 and not taking up the cause of the Dogras at a time when they were required to play their role? What they have started doing is too little and too late.
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