Dost, dost na raha: Is BJP pushing its Jammu and Kashmir voters away with PDP alliance?

Jammu: The BJP seems to be losing ground in Jammu after conceding the post of chief minister to the PDP, which has already struck a bad note thanks to newly sworn in CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed crediting “Hurriyat, militants” and people from “across the border,” an implicit reference to Pakistan, for allowing peaceful atmosphere during last year’s assembly election .

There is a sense of anguish and betrayal among the state BJP leadership as well as the ordinary people who accuse the party of “compromising” its core ideology and the poll planks on which it came to power in Jammu.

Outside a coffee shop in Residency road, a lively marketplace in the heart of Jammu city, Jagdesh Kumar Raina, 53, sells newspapers on a pavement. He is a short, bulky man who speaks with raised eyebrows when asked about Mufti Sayeed’s expression of gratitude towards Pakistan.

Raina says common people like him won’t blame Mufti, but the BJP which has allowed Mufti to become chief minister for six years. “During election rallies, the BJP wanted a Hindu CM for the state, abrogation of Article 370, giving equal voice and share of development to Jammu region. Now they have given up on all their demands for power. It’s a betrayal of our votes,” he told Firstpost.

His words are echoed by a section of the State BJP unit who are reported to have conveyed their grievances to the party leadership. Sources told Firstpost that the decision to concede a major chunk of 11 cabinet berths to PDP was kept under wraps until the last minute, and its disclosure on Tuesday caused anguish among BJP legislators.

“The state BJP leadership was taken by surprise with most important portfolios like home, finance, revenue and tourism, besides the chief minister’s post landing in the PDP’s lap. And Mufti’s remarks on Pakistan has only made the matter worse,” sources said.

The fall-out of Mufti’s remarks are being felt more severely in Jammu than Kashmir Valley where the story of the PDP’s failed spin-doctors is an open secret. The party wants to sell the story as the victory of its aging patriarch in bringing India and Pakistan to talk Kashmir with the people of Kashmir, a process that has been initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

“This alliance won’t survive long,” declares Tarun Khajuria, 32, a real estate businessman. He feels that the ideological divide between the two parties will spill in the open more often in coming days, “People of Jammu have been feeling betrayed by successive governments in the state. They had rested their hopes on BJP. But the party has given up its crucial demands. In the coming elections, it will hurt BJP’s prospects.”

The BJP won 25 out of 37 seats in the Hindu-dominated Jammu province, a historic feat which allowed the party to stitch up the alliance with the PDP. The ‘Modi Wave’ touched the hearts of people even more than the Amarnath land row of 2008 during which Jammu became polarized along communal lines and the BJP climbed to its highest ever tally of 11 seats in a House of 87.

“We saw hope in BJP because of Modi but the same Modi has betrayed our trust. The PDP is a party of separatists and corrupt businessmen. Modi talks of clean and good governance but he went on to shake hands with the same party,” Priya Sharma, 58, a principle at a local school told Firstpost.

Seated on a revolving chair inside the office of BJP in Gandhi Nagar, Kavinder Gupta, 53, who won the election on a BJP ticket and is tipped to be the next speaker of the state assembly, says the top RSS leadership has  told State leaders that they must have “bada dil.”

“We may have made some compromises, but this has been done in the national interest and integration of the two regions than for the benefit of any party or individual,” he told Firstpost.

Gupta says the BJP-PDP alliance will continue to be guided by common minimum program, “We have conveyed our stand on crucial issue to Mufti sahib like the return of Afzal Guru’s mortal remains. And let me also tell you that this alliance will deliver more on political and economic fronts than what was done in the last 60 years. I am sure we will rather bridge the divide between the two regions than creating more gaps".

Congress activists meanwhile, burned BJP and PDP flags near Shaheedi Chowk on Tuesday evening. Amid anti-BJP and anti-PDP slogans, they described the alliance as ‘unholy’ and ‘traitorous’ shouting, “BJP ka jo yar hai, gadar hai gadar hai (Those friends with BJP are traitors),” the same slogan which the BJP workers, few months ago, raised in Jammu against the PDP, but with greater thrust and intensity.

In a matter of few days of an ‘unholy’ marriage in Jammu and Kashmir, life has come a full circle for the two parties.