Veteran RSS leader and BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said his party had in 2015 itself “busted the myth” that it was an outsider in Jammu and Kashmir and proved itself to be the “malik (master)”.

It is not clear why Madhav used the word “malik” in his speech but it is a common complaint here that the BJP-led government at the Centre was running the Union Territory as its “master”.

Madhav was the architect of the 2015 alliance between the BJP and the PDP. He was recently designated as the party in-charge of elections here.

Madhav said the BJP would “bust another myth” in the upcoming election that the Valley was against the party.

The BJP leader said the election was going to be a historic one and his party would create history.

“There was a time when it was said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would never accept the BJP. I got a chance in 2014 to visit Kashmir for the first time. There were elections. It was felt that the BJP as a party was an outsider, a Delhi-based entity,” Madhav said.

He said the feeling was that the BJP might win a few seats but would remain an outsider. “But we busted this myth in 2015 and proved we are not outsiders but masters.... We were in the government later on,” he said, referring to the PDP-BJP alliance government. “Now we have to bust another myth in 2024 — that the Valley will not support the BJP.”

Madhav urged party workers to fulfil their commitment towards the BJP and ensure victory. The BJP leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be in Srinagar on September 19 to address the people.

Madhav said Article 370 had become history and claimed that 60 lakh people in Kashmir no longer remember it.