BJP activists resigning in Kashmir after killing of party leader, family

The killing of BJP’s Bandipora leader along with his father and brother, has led to a sense of fear among the saffron party functionaries and workers across Kashmir, with several among them resigning in a hurry.

Immediately after the Bandipora killings, BJP’s youth wing president of Baramulla district Maroof Bhat announced his resignation on Facebook. “I hereby resign from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) as a member and from any post I held in BJYM. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for the party,” Bhat posted on his Facebook account.

BJYM is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A social activist from Handwara, Mubeena Bano, who had joined BJP a few months before, Thursday resigned from the party. “I have been working for redress issues of people since 2015. I had joined BJP to resolve the issues of people. But nothing is being done on the ground so I resigned from the BJP,” she was quoted by a local news gathering agency as having said.

On Tuesday, BJP’s vice president for Kupwara Asif Ahmad had also resigned from the party. Earlier on Wednesday, a BJP leader Mehraj ud Din Malla, who was reportedly “abducted” in the morning returned home in the evening.

The resignations and the panic among BJP activists followed the killing of the party’s leader Wasim Bari, his brother and father, who were shot dead despite having 10 personal security officers (PSOs) and living nearby a police station.
A BJP leader from south Kashmir said they were in a panic after the killing of the Bari family. “We have families and if we are killed, who will take care of them? When militants can kill someone with 10 PSOs along with family, imagine what will be the fate of those who don’t have even security,” he said.

He said that BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, who held a meeting with party members on his visit to Kashmir this week, was told bluntly about the lack of security to party workers who have been working under hostile conditions in the Valley.

“A number of leaders are without security cover despite being vulnerable. Madhav ji was even told that terrorists have targeted them despite having tight security. He listened keenly. We hope for some outcome that will allay our fears for our lives,” the leader added.

The fear among political workers is not new. On 8 June Congress Sarpanch Ajay Pandita was also killed by militants in Anantnag district.