Bharatiya Janata Party may be a divided house on two issues of Jammu’s prestigious-AIIMS and the artificial lake— any political watcher can vouch that both the projects will materialise at its own pace and not much will be changed. With almost over Rs 50 Cr already spent on lake project one does’nt think that the State Government will abandon this project at this stage. If Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is to be believed one feels by refusing the project he could be testing BJP leaders’ following and ground situation in Jammu as far as these two issues are concerned. As regards setting up of AIIMS in Jammu, there is no exaggeration that one fine morning people of Jammu would find they have got the most prestigious health care institution by renaming the Super Specialty Hospital which is already working but has not taken off at full pace. By renaming the institution it would be face-lifting it by adding few more facilities for patient care and to assuage the Jammu pride. So the constitution of a Coordination Committee to spearhead the agitation sans BJP shows the emerging political combination in Jammu and Kashmir. As BJP completes one year rule riding on the Modi factor today the party is a lonely political child and sandwiched between shrewd Kashmiri leaders and Central leaders inaction. Under such a situation it is PDP’s gain to go ahead. Mufti is a clever player in this game compared to BJP leaders of Jammu who till date were not able to see beyond their myopic outlook. The 2008 Amarnath land agitation which kept the region in a Bandh mode for more than two months should work as an indicator about the gains the region got after the emotion-charged stir. And once again raking up issues through Bandh and agitation will boomerang on the people spearheading it. BJP in Jammu may have politically gained in number of seats but has not succeeded in gaining people’s confidence to take issues to their logical end. And the six year term would be PDP’s gain rather than BJP’s even in the region.
