Letting out its not-so-guarded secret, the BJP has now openly extended its support to Apni Party’s Anantnag-Rajouri candidate Zaffar Iqbal Manhas for the last phase of elections in the Valley.
Sensing defeat in Kashmir, the BJP had opted out of the contest and all its senior leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, have been asking Kashmiris to vote for anybody but INDIA bloc partners Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The BJP, however, never explicitly said who the Kashmiris should vote for.
That is why the party avoided campaigning for Apni Party’s Srinagar candidate Mohammad Ashraf Mir or the other “ally” Sajad Lone, who contested from Baramulla, a grim reminder of how Kashmir-based parties were unwilling to publicly acknowledge their support from the BJP for the fear of backlash.
The BJP’s now open support for Manhas is, however, not without a reason.
The constituency, which votes on May 25, is locked in a triangular contest between Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, Mian Altaf Ahmad of the NC and Manhas.
The BJP gave Paharis — majority Muslims but substantial Hindus as well — Scheduled Caste status ahead of the elections, hoping they would help the party win the seat. The BJP, however, chose not to contest believing it was unlikely to win. In the absence of the BJP, the Pahari vote is likely to split among all candidates.
Senior Jammu and Kashmir BJP leaders, including Ravinder Raina, Vibodh Gupta, Nirmal Singh and Ashok Koul, have been camping in Rajouri and Poonch districts, where the Paharis are a majority, asking people to vote for the Pahari Manhas.
On Thursday, Raina, also a Pahari, told a crowd in Surankote that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians were “all ours” and so are the mandirs, masjids, gurdwaras, peers and faqirs (Muslim spiritual
figures).
Mehbooba on Wednesday accused the BJP of supporting a party which has been involved in bringing hawala money from Pakistan to fund militancy in Kashmir, a veiled reference to Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari.
“I am surprised how the BJP, which claims to be nationalist, is supporting the party that is involved in hawala funding and has a direct role in bloodshed. The money from Pakistan for militancy was also used in setting up businesses,” she told reporters in Poonch.
“I do not want to name anyone but you will come to know, if you try to find out, who is handing over money to militants and (separatist) leaders,” she said.
Mehbooba claimed that the separatist leaders’ connections were still intact and they could use them to ensure minimal polling in Kashmir.
On Mehbooba’s remarks, Raina went on the backfoot saying he respected the PDF leader but “such allegations are not in good taste”.
“Opposing one another on the political turf should be on the basis of agenda, manifesto and election programmes,” he told reporters at Mendhar in Poonch.
Opposition NC and PDP have been accusing the Apni Party and Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference of being the B-teams of the BJP.
NC vice-president and Baramulla candidate Omar Abdullah even accused Lone of publicly acknowledging that “he was the BJP”. Lone accused him of lying and asked him to apologise for the remarks.
