BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Always humming with pilgrim traffic, Jammu hotels and lodges are currently full with BJP cadre, drawn from various parts of the country in view of ineffective local leadership, which is suffering from terrible initiative-cum-credibility deficit.
From starred posh hotel to unkempt shanty lodges and from Vaishno Dham to tiny Dharamshalas, the Swayam Sewaks and BJP volunteers have made Jammu as their second home this election season.
The local leadership crisis has compelled the party to bank upon outsiders, who have taken control over everything. They are the people who take decisions on important aspects of election management-from pulling out the crowds, managing the rallies and carrying out door-to-door campaigns. The Jammuites are witnessing with amusement absence of local faces, who have virtually been pushed behind the curtain for obvious reasons. Their track record over the years has remained questionable and the party does not seem to be in a mood to take chances by pushing them into the front. The scenario has become more pronounced with elections entering into a decisive stage, after the fourth of the five-phased elections also witnessing increase in the poll percentage. All eyes are set on the twenty seats in the Jammu region. Portraying itself as a main claimant, the Bharatiya Janata Party has pooled all resources at its command from outside the state to make the final phase as fight to finish.
Apart from smart electioneering, with use of technology and commandeering of cine-stars and the cream of its leadership, BJP does not seem to be leaving anything to chance. Joining of cadre from rest of the country have raised several questions over the local cadre that used to depend on Swayam Sevaks joining the effort voluntarily and moving around with a pack of donated food stuff-Channa-Puri or Aloo-Roti. Now the scenario is different, the volunteers have jam-packed the Jammu hotels and lodges. The rush of Mata Vaishno Devi bound pilgrims has been overtaken by BJP volunteers coming from all parts of the country.
That resources seem to be no constraint is evident from the fact that contestants are lavishly spending on transport, rallies, banners and buntings, advertisements through all modes of communication. On the face of it, the BJP has outwitted its opponents on campaigning plank. They have also left the opponents, as also their local Sangh workers, at back-foot when it comes to crowd pulling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been addressing ‘mammoth’ gatherings while Congress chief left red-faced with just a thin attendance at Maulana Azad Stadium in the winter capital. The professionals are meticulously arranging VVIP trips and crowd management-of course for a cost. All this would have been beyond the managerial capacity of the ‘incompetent’ and ‘outdated’ local leadership which has been pushed to quarantine vacation.
Jammu has got transformed into a nerve centre of outsiders for the last phase of elections with Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar, Hiranagar, Nagrota, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu-East, Jammu-West, Bishnah, R. S. Pura, Suchetgarh, Marh, Raipur Domana, Akhnoor, Chamb, Nowshehra, Darhal, Rajouri and Kalakote constituencies going to decide the fate of BJP. These are considered as the strong bastion of the saffron brigade. Hence all the care and attention!
The added advantage with outsiders is that they start their operations from wee hours till late in the night. Their presence in the temple-city has over-shadowed the pilgrim traffic who used to throng to pay obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi on Trikuta Hills.
