JAMMU: Omar Abdullah made two points in his speech during his first visit to Jammu after becoming Chief Minister: the “narazagi” – annoyance with adverse impact on economy with discontinuation of Durbar Move, smart meters, power and water shortage didn’t get reflected in the voting pattern of the people of the region. Second, he held out an unqualified assurance that his government will work for all irrespective of their voting preferences.
He is absolutely right in assessing the mood of the Jammu voters in the post-October 8 scenario. Jammu voters were motivated toward voting in one particular direction – they voted for BJP in huge numbers. The party won 29 seats and Jammu voters gave it the pride of scoring highest voting percentage in the Assembly polls.
On the second count, he has done something – accommodating three faces from Jammu region, granting the post of Deputy Chief Minister to Surinder Choudhary, a Hindu, but rest of the statement that he would be devoting equal attention to the people of the region will be known in coming weeks and months.
In his both assertions, BJP is a common factor. The BJP has done pretty well in Jammu region. Its 29 seats in the 90-member Assembly is just one seat short of occupying one-third of seats in the House. This is substantial strength. In 2014 when the party had won 25 out of 37 seats, it was much shorter of one-third strength of the House. – That is four seats short. The number should have been 29 that time, which was not there. This speaks volumes of the progress that BJP made during the past 10 years, despite suffering from a tag of having allied with PDP, which the party later dubbed as pro-militants, and secessionist.
The magic wand was handed over by the Centre. The abrogation of Article 370 liberated Jammu heartland – the name ascribed to the plains from where BJP scored more than 90 percent of seats – liberated Jammu from a compulsory arch of being part of the same geography and population that sat separately in the Indian union .Jammu, because of its nationalist beliefs and courtesies always sat in seclusion. It suffered because of that as it was perceived and dealt with as a poor cousin. To be fair, it is also a fact that Jammu was bypassed when it came to giving doles and other benefits to Jammu and Kashmir. All the Central governments, irrespective of their respective party flags were keener to look at the Valley. There was a peculiar situation in which Kashmir did deserve attention and care, but it was done at the cost of the people of Jammu and Ladakh in the former state. After J&K and Ladakh became union territories, not much of the difference has been made to Jammu. But the abrogation of Article 370 indeed gave boost to the Indian nationalism which Jammu always embodied. That delivered a critical victory to the region and its psyche.
BJP which had hoped to be in power after the elections has to reconcile to the role of opposition for the time being. It got a good number of seats in the region, but could not open account in the Kashmir valley despite showing a remarkable improvement in its vote share as compared to the previous election. This outcome imposes greater responsibility on the saffron party. There are three tasks which it should address without any delay.
First, it should prepare to play a role of an effective and constructive opposition. The opposition is not to criticize the government always nor it means repeating the election-time rhetoric. It demands thorough understanding of the issues facing the UT and discussing and delivering on them. It is a national party, and it has to act accordingly. It has to choose its vocabulary and also demonstrate by its actions that it means business and that too serious one. It must do everything from the national perspective.
Second, the voters in Jammu voted for it to get their day-to-day issues addressed. They were not having access to the bureaucratic system. Now the party legislators have to become a bridge between them and the government without compromising on the prestige and honor of the voters. There is a mix of youth and experience, ideal to become vibrant voice within and outside the Assembly .They should not hesitate to talk about the issues from drains, street lights to the major problems of unemployment and drug abuse. Jammu is a border region – five of its districts have border with Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir .BJP has to become voice of the nation. It has been assigned the duty of guardian of the national interest. It must ensure that no red line is crossed by anyone on this score.
Third: An outreach to the Valley is necessary. It should give the Valley a feeling that though the voters there have not given even a single seat to the party, still the party would take them on board on all issues. As such, BJP has greater responsibility than even the government in Jammu and Kashmir of today.
