More at stake for BJP in J&K than being in power

NEW DELHI: “This (Modi’s surprise stopover in Lahore on Christmas day) must have floored the people in Kashmir Valley,” a senior BJP leader confided, reminding how the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, too, had advocated a dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unconventional step, consequently, not only added to the thaw in the relationship with Pakistan, it’s also seen as a move to earn the goodwill of the mainstream in Kashmir Valley.

For the BJP leadership, there’s a lot at stake in Srinagar as it badly wants to hold on to power. While BJP president Amit Shah may have bargained hard to bring BJP into a position of influence in the new government last year, the party was driven by a desire to expand its footprints to all corners of the country after Narendra Modi’s emphatic victory in the 2014 elections.

BJP has to make sure that it doesn’t lose another state, especially after the party’s defeat in Bihar. Also, at stake is BJP leadership’s position within the saffron parivar: it is common knowledge that a strong section of the BJP and RSS were critical of aligning with the PDP, citing differing ideological positions.

In fact, Shah had to assuage cadres through a special briefing about the alliance before the party’s national executive in April last year. So, now if the PDP splits with the BJP, it will give the Sangh Parivar a handle to run down the alliance, and corner the party’s leadership for not heeding to its advice in the first place.

The most important thing the BJP leadership needs to keep in mind is the political capital PM Modi has invested in his engagement with Pakistan, an exercise that helps the ruling party have a direct say in the affairs of Jammu & Kashmir as an alliance partner.