Less than 24 hours after he was named as the election in-charge of poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav was in Srinagar on Wednesday, holding a spate of meetings with local leaders to steer the party’s campaign for the upcoming assembly election. While state elections to pick a new assembly are being held in September after a gap of 10 years in Jammu and Kashmir, it also marks the end of Ram Madhav’s political hiatus spanning half a decade.
According to several local leaders, his return as election in-charge has enthused the party’s local unit that worked closely with him in 2014. Along with Ram Madhav, union minister G Kishen Reddy will also oversee elections in the UT.
In 2014 as the national general secretary of the BJP, Ram Madhav, a well-recognised face of the BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was given the mandate to draft the party’s political and electoral narrative in the trouble-torn region. He is credited for scripting the coming together of the two ideologically diverse entities, the BJP and the regional satrap the People’s Democratic Party or the PDP.
Read more: Jammu and Kashmir elections: BJP names Ram Madhav, G Kishan Reddy as poll in-charges
“There was little support for the BJP on the ground in the Valley, since the party’s agenda of abrogating Article 370 and removing 35(A) that gave the state special powers and the right to decide domicile issues was well known. Ram Madhav worked behind the scenes to collaborate with regional leaders and parties to draw a bridge between the people and the party. He was largely successful, as the BJP did not win any seats in the Kashmir division, but bagged 25 in the Jammu region that put it in a position to negotiate for power sharing,” said a senior party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. The BJP won 25, the PDP 28, the Congress 12 and the National Conference won 15 seats in 2014.
{{/usCountry}}“There was little support for the BJP on the ground in the Valley, since the party’s agenda of abrogating Article 370 and removing 35(A) that gave the state special powers and the right to decide domicile issues was well known. Ram Madhav worked behind the scenes to collaborate with regional leaders and parties to draw a bridge between the people and the party. He was largely successful, as the BJP did not win any seats in the Kashmir division, but bagged 25 in the Jammu region that put it in a position to negotiate for power sharing,” said a senior party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. The BJP won 25, the PDP 28, the Congress 12 and the National Conference won 15 seats in 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP’s alliance with the PDP was short-lived. Trouble surfaced in the alliance soon after the demise of the then chief minister and PDP patriarch Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, which was followed by his daughter and political heir Mehbooba Mufti dragging her feet on the issue of continuing the coalition, which was mounted on a common agenda that kept aside BJP’s key ideological issues.
The collapse of the coalition government in 2018 over ideological differences paved the way for his exit from the then state. Ram Madhav was dropped as national general secretary in September 2020 and made his way back to his parent organisation the RSS, where he was a member of the national executive.
“His return signals that the BJP is relying on his ability to build alliances and to sharpen the narrative. The party seeks to leverage his articulation and media exposure to build a case for the party and to counter the opposition’s charge that the [union] government has acted in contravention of laws to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the state,” said the leader quoted above. The leader added that his sudden reinstatement from the cold has also “raised eyebrows”.
A second leader based in the UT said Ram Madhav’s return is being seen as Delhi’s attempts to balance the aspirations of the Valley and the Jammu region, give a fillip to the local leadership and open a channel of communication with leaders who are not aligned to regional satraps, the PDP and the NC. There are several political outfits such as the Peoples’ Conference led by Sajad Lone, the Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari and former Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad’ Democratic Progressive Azad Party that are pitching as alternatives to the NC and the PDP.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the second leader said, “After J&K lost statehood and became a UT there was a perception that the BJP will now be limited to Jammu and its support in the Valley is completely eroded. His work will be to ensure that while BJP wins the majority of the 43 seats in Jammu, it should also open its account in the Valley, especially in those constituencies that are dominated by the Gujars and the Paharis that have benefitted from reservation after the abrogation of Article 370.”
After the 2022 delimitation exercise, there are 43 seats in the Jammu region which is a BJP-stronghold and 47 in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir division, 21 seats have been reserved for Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. While there are 7 seats for the Scheduled Castes (SC), for the first time 9 seats have been reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the UT.
This is the first electoral test that the BJP will face in the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370. It did not contest the Lok Sabha seats falling in the Kashmir division, but won both in the Jammu region.
“Ram Madhav’s ease in dealing with political leaders across party lines and his image as a moderate will be a key attribute for negotiations in a post poll scenario where no party has a clear mandate,” said the second leader.
A third senior leader in Delhi declined to comment on how Ram Madhav was roped in for the assignment but said, “The party and the Sangh know who to depute for what and when...”
To a question on the reports of a fall-out between the senior party leadership and Ram Madhav that led to his political sidelining, the leader said, “These issues are sorted by the leaders at appropriate forum. He has demonstrated his skills in the past when he delivered results in J& K and the North East and his current role has been decided by the leadership.”
The priority for the party and Ram Madhav, the third leader said, was drafting a compelling narrative to counter the opposition election and make room for “nationalistic point of view”.
Elections are being held in the UT in the backdrop of growing terror attacks in the Jammu region that have sounded an alarm. “In the wake of such developments we need people to understand why a nationalistic point of view and democratic processes are necessary,” the third leader said.