Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved something which no other BJP leader in the past was able to achieve. He has made the BJP a visible party in Kashmir.
The BJP had no existence in the Kashmir valley before this. It was known as a 'letter head' party with no cadre base or leaders. But under Modi and the BJP national president Amit Shah, the saffron party has been able to enter the land of real saffron, Kashmir.
The BJP has been trying to make its presence felt across the Valley, where it was considered a non-entity till recently. For the first time, it has fielded 43 candidates on its own in the Valley, which has 46 Assembly seats. It has backed the former separatist leader Sajjad Lone in Handwara.
One can see huge hoardings, bill boards, posters, banners and buntings of Modi requesting the voters of Kashmir to vote the BJP for change and development. The BJP has adorned the capital Srinagar, which has eight Assembly seats with its huge hoardings. Even on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad National Highway, almost all villages and towns have the hoardings of Modi seeking votes.
According to a local journalist, the BJP is campaigning openly across the Kashmir valley for the first time. He said, "Earlier, the BJP used to field half-a -dozen candidates in the Valley. They never used to campaign. The contest was just symbolic. For the first time, the BJP is campaigning like a serious player. It is something new. Something never seen before this."
The BJP is also using the local media, mainly newspapers in English and Urdu to convey its message to the voters. The BJP is advertising in all major newspapers in Kashmir and also in the local TV channels.
Like rest of India, most BJP hoardings and other campaign materials have only one picture - that of Modi. Some hoardings and banners have the picture of Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh, who is from the Jammu region, and party chief Amit Shah. But the BJP campaign is mainly Modi-centric.
The BJP leaders in the Valley believe that Modi has a huge public appeal across the Valley and can surprise the nay sayers. The BJP is targetting the minority Hindus (Kashmiri Pandits) and the Sikhs. Most of the BJP leaders in Kashmir are Muslims. They feel that many ordinary Muslims will also vote Modi for the development.
Shah's core team has also shifted its focus to Kashmir from neighbouring Jammu. A 150-member team is camping across Kashmir to assist and strategise party campaign. It is also focusing on the online campaign using social media platforms and the SMS service.
Modi will address two public meetings in Kashmir on December 8. He will address a rally in Srinagar and Anantnag. The local BJP unit is making all possible efforts to get a decent crowd in both the meetings.
According to national president of Jammat -e-Ulema Hind Moulana Suhaib Qasmi, at least 150 Muslim clerics are actively working for the BJP and to promote Modi's development agenda in Kashmir. He argues that the incidents like Gujarat riots of 2002 are things of the past and it is time to build a better tomorrow for all in Kashmir and rest of India.
Many local Kashmiri people are still sceptical about the "Modi wave" in Kashmir. They claim that the BJP's appeal is limited only to advertisements and the party has a very little support among the public.
When asked about BJP's high decibel campaign across the Valley, some of them allege that the BJP is spending crores to get the local people on board. They even accuse the BJP of spending huge money on public advertisements by purchasing ad spots and locations at an exorbitant rate. The BJP rubbishes these claims as baseless and claims that it is getting a genuine support from the local Kashmiris who are tired of militancy and corruption.
It is a fact that the BJP is competing with the other major political parties in the fray - the National Conference, the Peoples' Democratic Party and the Congress - on an equal footing when it comes to campaign.
When the votes are counted on December 23, the people will come to know whether Modi's Mission in Kashmir is a success or a failure. However, Modi has completed half this mission by successfully launching party's campaign all over the Valley and has changed the public perception about him and the BJP to some extent.
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