Challenges before Jammu are very clear; it has to look for its space in the new governance model that will come into effect when the National Conference-led government will assume office under the leadership of Omar Abdullah , once the youngest chief minister of the Jammu and Kashmir in 2009 and now as the first-ever chief minister of the UT. He hopes that he will work for the restoration of statehood so that his government can have all the powers, enabling him to deliver in effective manner.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Jammu is reflecting on its own verdict. It made BJP to win 29 seats , a record of sorts. It has given a huge mandate to the party and its hopes too are huge . The region voted for BJP with three objectives – hope that the party would be able to lead government in the UT and hence deliver on all the promises that it made to the people in its manifesto ; to have a Hindu chief minister from the region and resurgence of Hindu dignity .There were solid reasons for Jammu to vote with these objectives in mind , since independence it has not been able to have a shot at the government. It never led the state government , which it sensed in the Union Territory , particularly when the delimitation of the constituencies in 2022 narrowed its gap of seats with the Valley. Kashmir had 47 seats and Jammu got 43 . Earlier the gap was of six seats – the Valley had 43 seats as against 37 of Jammu .The region should be thankful to the Centre and in particular to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for ordering the delimitation after abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
This was a grand opportunity for Jammu to do what was not possible for all these decades. It had attempted to do so in 2014 when it gave 25 seats to BJP enabling it to have a coalition government with the PDP –the Valley-centric party. There was nothing in common between the two parties, as they were poles apart in their ideologies. BJP was fighting for its apace and dignity of Jammu region . It had its narrative against the Kashmir-centric parties that it alleged had always discriminated against the region , but the compulsion of the mandate demanded to partner with PDP to live up to expectations of the people. Both sides had made compromises in their Common Minimum Programme document fashionably titled as ” Agenda of Alliance”, yet the coalition did not last beyond three years. The contradictions surfaced and the government collapsed.
After the 2024 poll results , the BJP has no chance to enter into government as National Conference is having a clear majority and it doesn’t need the support of any other party . This is a fact that cannot be overlooked . But this doesn’t mean that the BJP has no role to play in the future scheme of things .
It may be believed that the party would play the role of an effective opposition to get the things done. That’s realistic assessment and interpretation of the mandate . There, however, is a catch . The opposition is concentrated in Jammu region , and such an opposition to the new government would have its regional implications , and worse still the religious ones too. It has to be guarded against.
National Conference leadership should understand that though the Valley has given it a majority of seats and few others have come from the hilly areas of Jammu region , that it would have to listen to and act in the overall interest of the whole of J&K. It cannot serve the interests of Kashmir Valley without addressing the issues of the Jammu region. It would be wrong to assume that there is no opposition , since not many MLAs have been elected on the PDP, People’s Conference and AIP tickets . It has always looked PDP in the frame of Opposition ever since the latter was founded in 1999 . It was only during the 2014 and 2024 campaign that it saw a threat to its position in the Valley in BJP. Same holds true for the PDP.
The NC leadership has a chance to break the ice and respect the mandate of Jammu that it has given to the BJP . Omar Abdullah will have to reconcile to this if he hopes to govern without facing many hurdles . The opposition and ruling parties cannot be seen on the same page, but in the given situation it is not just the opposition but also stakes of very important region without which Kashmir is incomplete .It is incumbent upon BJP to seek and assert Jammu’s space with dignity.
