Article 370 in Ram temple mode for BJP's poll campaign

Article 370 seems to be in the Ram temple mode for the Narendra Modi 2:0 government. Indications are that it is getting precedence over all other issues since it has the potential to browbeat the Congress much more easily. It strikes an instant chord with large chunks of voters outside Kashmir and does not necessarily run into any confrontation with the judiciary.

With not even Opposition parties willing to take on the BJP aggressively on it and parties like BSP, BJD, YSR Congress, AIADMK, AAP and even TDP already having supported it and recalcitrant ally JD(U) having taken a literal U-turn on the issue after initially opposing it, the BJP is confident that no counter polarisation is likely.

So on one hand, Prime Minister Modi is pulling up motor mouths on Ram temple issue pending before the Supreme Court and asking them to have faith in the judiciary, and feigns an eerie silence on Uniform Civil Code (which Law Commission of India in August year said is “neither necessary nor desirable”), on the other, leaders of BJP are vying with each other in ratcheting up muscular nationalism on the issue of abrogation of special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

That is also because the much touted NRC exercise, which BJP wanted to capitalise on in states like West Bengal, has run into controversies after exclusion of larger number Hindus, mainly Bengali Hindus. So, Article 370 is the only secured bait.

Addressing a “Jan Jagran Sabha” (public awareness meet) in Patna, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Article 370 was like a “cancer” that bled J&K and warned Pakistan to not repeat the “mistakes of 1965 and 1971”.Asserting that his party lived up to its promises, Singh also flagged that “as a nationalist party, the BJP never softened its stand” on the issue, evoking applause from the crowd.

Article 370 found prominent mention in the exhibition inaugurated in BJP national headquarters to celebrate Modi’s birthday.

The BJP, which earlier announced holding meetings (Sampark and Jansampark) at 370 places and 35 main cities to take to the masses the message of the J&K decisions, has now doubled up the number of such events. More than 700 such meetings will now be organised in different places.

The party has upped the ante on the issue calling the decision as one “driven by patriotism” at a time when the Election Commission has already announced poll schedule for Maharashtra and Haryana, where voting will take place on October 21. The contact (sampark) programme under which top BJP leaders will meet influential people of all walks of life began on September 3 while it started public meetings (jansampark) from September 10.

After the programmes culminate, the BJP will launch another campaign on October 2 on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi during which also BJP workers will apprise the people of the recent initiatives of the government including its moves on J&K, though its central theme will be `plastic-free India’.

BJP president Amit Shah has asked party workers to strive at creating a “deshbhakton ki toli (group of patriots) everywhere during the campaign in which 3,229 party workers and leaders will pan out. In Houston (USA), none other than Modi, while strongly defending the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A for J&K, went to the extent of saying that those criticising the decision are “promoting terrorism”.

Back home in poll-bound states, the tenor is much more aggressive. In Maharashtra, Amit Shah asked voters to choose between nationalistic parties like BJP which quashed Article 370 or Congress and NCP, which he alleged are family-oriented parties.

Broken Muslim voices a relief

The effect of anger over Article 370 is localised in the Valley where the saffron party does not have a direct political space. In the rest of the country including the adjoining Jammu and Ladakh, BJP has got seemingly strengthened after the decision.

The Muslim voters in other parts of the country, who are anyhow not in the BJP’s vote bank, are not directly affected by the decision in Kashmir, where the local populace have not on many occasions identified with the issues of Muslims in rest of the country. Besides, the ambiguous stands taken by a number of parties have ensured that no centralised consolidation of Muslim voters against BJP may be seen anywhere.

Seeking to put the Congress in the dock, Shah during a lecture in Mumbai, squarely blamed India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the disputed status of J&K saying it was because of his decision for a ceasefire with Pakistan that PoK came into existence. Many prominent BJP leaders including J P Nadda and Rajnath Singh have spoken in one voice about the need to set the records straight over Article 370.

In Jharkhand, Shah last week said that by removing Article 370 and 35A, Modi has shown Pakistan its real place and proved J&K is an integral part of India and nobody can snatch it.

As election campaign gains momentum in Maharashtra and Haryana where BJP is seeking a second term, and dates of elections for another BJP-ruled state Jharkhand expected to be declared next month-end, Kashmir is all set to dominate political discourse in rest of India.