For the People’s Democratic Party that Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra has invited — along with the BJP — to form a government in the troubled northern State, and the National Conference (NC), the party the BJP prefers as a partner, the fractured mandate has thrown up a conundrum.
An alliance in Delhi may not pose too many problems to either the PDP or the NC — the latter, even a favourite of the Delhi establishment; but one in Jammu and Kashmir has serious implications for the two regional parties, given how different their worldview is from that of the BJP, especially in relation to the State.
The BJP’s approach to Jammu and Kashmir, defined by its opposition to Article 370 that gives the State special status, is at odds with any other party operating in the State. While top BJP sources recently indicated that it might be hard to abrogate Article 370, they said administrative measures could be taken to further dilute its provisions. These sources added that the party intended to focus on welfare measures for the Gujjars and the Bakerwals — also Muslim but of tribal status. This is clearly intended to create a wedge between them and the Muslims who dominate the Kashmir Valley.
It would like to use its numbers in the Assembly to push for a review of the Supreme Court freeze on delimitation in the State, valid till 2026. If the BJP succeeds in this, the number of seats in the Jammu region, where it has won 25 of the 37 seats, could increase at the expense of the more sparsely populated constituencies of the Kashmir Valley, completely changing the political dynamics.
Indeed, talk of a possible alliance between the BJP and the PDP/the NC has upset MLAs of these parties, as reports from Srinagar suggest. If NC MLA Aga Roohullah said he would not support any effort to form a government with the BJP, another party MLA Mohammad Shafi favoured an alliance instead with the PDP to “safeguard” the interests of the State: “They [the BJP] don’t just want the integration of Jammu and Kashmir but also its assimilation. This may not be written but this is what they are doing. Look at the forcible conversions,” he said. PDP MLAs have not gone on record but many are uncomfortable at the thought of an alliance with the BJP.
On Friday, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told journalists here: “The BJP has, of course, a democratic right to try and form a government in Jammu and Kashmir. But now that it is in power at the Centre, it should place the country above its interests, and not so aggressively pursue the formation of a government there. Jammu and Kashmir, like the States in the northeast, is not just religiously sensitive, but culturally, politically and geographically so, being close to the borders. One wrong move would be disastrous. Jammu and Kashmir is not like Maharashtra, Rajasthan or Gujarat.”
Referring to the Congress, he said: “It took 67 years for the people of the State to digest the Congress — not fully, I admit — and the BJP wants to do it overnight. Let Mufti and the regional parties decide what is best for the State.”
Of course, within the BJP, there are differences for these very reasons on the party’s attempt to form a government. At least three senior Cabinet Ministers indicated as much to The Hindu , but the party, pushed by president Amit Shah and the RSS, appears determined to go ahead with its plans, though it failed to win any seat both in the Valley and in Ladakh.
