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'We put the seed of BJP's ideology in Jammu, watered it, nurtured it for four decades and when it was time to reap the fruits of those efforts, the fruits are being sold out to the very same people who worked hard to uproot this tree.'
'Shockingly, our own people are letting this happen and nobody from Delhi bothers to even listen to us.'
With the Election Commission of India scheduling the election to the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, battle lines are being drawn by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the National Conference headed by former chief minister Omar Abdullah, the People's Democratic Party headed by former CM Mehbooba Mufti and the Congress.
Even as major political players have begun announcing their candidates, the BJP in Jammu seem to be heading for trouble with its president for Samba district, Karishma Singh tendering his resignation.
The BJP is also facing a revolt in Jammu as well as in Kashmir where it had to hurriedly withdraw and re-release its first list of candidates over charges of favouritism and dynastic politics.
"What people like us, who sacrificed their entire lives and the well-being of their families just so that the BJP could emerge stronger, get back is domination and humiliation from outsiders encouraged by none other than our top state leaders," Kashmira Singh -- a two-time president of the BJP in Samba district -- tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
Why did you quit the BJP after being part of it for 42 years?
The BJP in Jammu & Kashmir today has betrayed and abandoned the ideology and legacy of our beloved leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He died for the abrogation of Article 370 and today the leaders who opposed Mookerjiji are getting all the important positions in the Jammu BJP.
I can't betray the ideology that I have grown up with, that I have believed in all my life. Looking at this betrayal my conscience didn't permit me to be a part of BJP.
Why are you saying that the BJP has betrayed the ideology of Syama Prasad Mookerjee when it was the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra D Modi which abrogated Article 370 from the former state?
It was to fulfill the same dream that not just me but lakhs and lakhs of BJP workers in Jammu and Kashmir fought for. I am happy that the BJP helped us fulfill our dreams.
Today, the people who believed in the ideology of Sheikh Abdullah (National Conference founder), against who I have fought many pitched battles for 42 years, are dictating the terms to common workers like me and want to usurp the BJP in Jammu.
People like Surjeet Singh Slathia (former minister in the NC-Congress government and now the BJP's Samba candidate) and Devender Singh Rana (a former aide of former chief minister Omar Abdullah and Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh's brother) have become the darlings of BJP.
These people have absolutely taken over the control of BJP here. We fought against these very people when they were ministers in the NC government and we were in the Opposition.
Today, what people like us, who sacrificed their entire lives and the well-being of their families just so that the BJP could emerge stronger, get back is domination and humiliation from outsiders encouraged by none other than our top state leaders.
We took the risk on our lives for the abrogation of Article 370. How will an ordinary worker of the BJP feel when he sees that people who supported Article 370 are today controlling who gets the ticket to contest the forthcoming elections in Jammu & Kashmir?
The way the BJP has encouraged these supporters of Article 370 into the party has disillusioned thousands of BJP leaders in Jammu.
The grassroot BJP worker at the booth level, at the division level and at the district level is unhappy with the way the party is functioning today. Those who have for generations, since their births, struggled to deepen the BJP's ideology in Jammu's soil are being sidelined and ignored.
We put the seed of the BJP's ideology in Jammu, watered it, nurtured it for four decades and when it was time to reap the fruits of those efforts, the fruits were sold out to the very same people who worked equally hard to uproot this tree.
Shockingly, our own people are letting this happen and nobody from Delhi bothers to even listen to us.
Do you have any proof to say that Devender Singh Rana supported Article 370?
We have audio tapes of some of these leaders warning people that if Article 370 (a Constitutional provision that gave a special status to the former state of J&K) and 35A (a constitutional provision that prohibited purchase of land within J&K by those who were not permanent residents of the state) were scrapped from Jammu & Kashmir it will lead to massacre of Dogras in the Valley.
How can we tolerate if leaders like these are not only given an entry into the party but also allowed to dictate term to us?
What impact will this disillusionment among BJP workers have on the BJP's prospects during the elections in J&K?
The BJP will receive a massive shock in J&K.
The feedback that I am getting from people belonging to three assembly seats in Samba district, whose president I was, gives me a feeling that BJP contestants from these seats will not even emerge at the second position.
The Samba assembly seat, which is considered the strongest bastion of the BJP in Jammu, from where the BJP has never lost an election, will for the first time see the BJP lose the seat and that too with a massive margin.
While the BJP is present nowhere in the Valley, they couldn't even find one candidate to contest the Lok Sabha election from there, it is not just the Valley but from the entire union territory of Jammu & Kashmir the BJP will not win even ten seats.
It will be a huge feat in itself if BJP wins more than ten seats from J&K.
Did you try to bring get the attention of national BJP leaders from Delhi?
I made all the efforts, but it is extremely difficult to reach out to Naddaji (BJP national President Jagat Prakash Nadda). I have written many letters to him but I am not sure what happened to them.
I am sure the (central leadership of the) party knows how angry and disillusioned BJP workers in Jammu are. I have, in detail, written to Naddaji about the anger of the workers here. I have myself sent my resignation to Naddaji.
Has your resignation been accepted by J P Nadda?
They have still not accepted it. I have been pleading with them to accept my resignation immediately. They are still making an attempt to reach out to me.
I received a call from the BJP's general secretary and Jammu in-charge Tarun Chugh but I disconnected the call. He was in Jammu but I did not meet him.
If I have resigned, I have resigned.
Were you expecting to contest as the BJP's candidate from Samba assembly seat?
I was absolutely confident of getting the ticket. Not just me, but the people from Samba district had pinned their hopes on my candidature. No other person in the BJP has been with the party for as many years as I have been in Samba.
I have worked as BJP' booth president, divisional president, state convener of J&K's Panchayati Raj cell twice, president of the district youth morcha, vice president of the yuva morcha in Jammu, then I was also a national council member for five years in Delhi and then after my stint as BJP district president in Samba in 2012, they once again made me district president in 2023.
I left no stone unturned to deepen the party's ideology in Jammu. When I was Samba president in 2012, the BJP won both the assembly seats in the district with a huge margin in the 2014 assembly elections.
Who do you hold responsible for people like you quitting the BJP in Jammu?
The incumbent BJP leadership in Jammu is solely responsible for what is happening today in the Jammu BJP and the same lot should be held accountable for the BJP's forthcoming rout in Jammu.
Ravinder Raina, the BJP's Jammu & Kashmir president will be responsible for the BJP's defeat in J&K. He is incapable of leading the BJP here.
There is a cabal of four-five people, including Ravinder Raina, who are responsible for allocating assembly seats to their own family people and indulging in favouritism. They have decided to finish the BJP off in J&K.