As Congress celebrates a strong showing in Kashmir, its struggle in Jammu raises questions about electoral strategy and regional dynamics
Late one night in August this year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared in Srinagar’s city centre Lal Chowk. He had an ice cream at a local parlour like any other Kashmiri. He interacted with people and many took pictures with him on their mobile phones. This was not for the first time Rahul Gandhi interacted with Kashmiris recently. During his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, he was seen hugging locals, wearing Kashmir’s traditional attire ‘pheran’, and having long interactions with locals.
“I have an old bond with Kashmir. I have a blood relation with Kashmir,” Rahul Gandhi had said later. Rahul Gandhi’s assertion seems to have resonated in the Assembly polls results. On Tuesday, Congress won six seats from the Valley.
However, out of the 43 Assembly seats in Jammu, Congress has been able to win only a single seat— Rajouri (ST) seat, where its candidate Iftikhar Ahmed registered victory by a margin of 1,404 votes.
The seats that the party has won in Kashmir include Wagoora-Kreeri, where its candidate Irfan Hafiz Lone has won by a margin of 7751 votes; Nizamudin Bhat won Bandipora seat by a margin of 811 votes; from Central-Shalteng seat in Srinagar, the party’s J&K chief Tariq Hamid Karra won by a margin of 14,395 votes; Ghulam Ahmad Mir won Dooru seat by a margin of 29,728 votes; and veteran Congress leader Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed won Anantnag seat by a margin of 1,686 votes.
The Congress’ performance in the Jammu region has been “dismal” for political observers considering the resentment against BJP post August 5, 2019. The BJP's move had brought outsiders from Punjab into businesses including liquor trade, and it didn’t go down well with locals, analysts believe. The Congress’ lacklustre show in Jammu despite the “resentment” against BJP has sent alarm bells ringing in Congress as well.
Congress’ J&K chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma says the results for the party is on “unexpected lines”. “Despite the resentment against the BJP we witnessed on ground, it has not translated into votes for us,” he said.
The party believes that the people in Jammu were “angry” with the BJP over unemployment and also electricity tariff hike. However, it just didn’t translate into votes for Congress, the party leaders believe. “BJP created a narrative in Jammu against Kashmir. They created an atmosphere of hatred,” said Sharma.
However, Sharma conceded that the party needs to do “thorough and in depth introspection” to chalk out the reason for “huge” losses in Jammu. “We will do a holistic analysis with our ground workers. Our worry is the margin of losses,” said Sharma.
There is also a belief that Congress focused more on Haryana than Jammu region, which helped BJP. However, a senior party leader, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said “Jammu was polarised by BJP. It is simple”.
“We had done vigorous campaigning. Our senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Khargejee (Mallikarjun Kharge) did campaigning. We also brought Himachal Pradesh deputy CM, former Punjab CM to Jammu. It didn’t work for us,” he said.
As per the Congress leader, BJP “played Hindu vs Muslim card” in Jammu which reaped dividends for it in Assembly poll results.
“You have to see lot of things were at work. They(BJP) gave voting rights to West Pakistan refugees, voting rights to Christians living in colonies...All these things fared well for them(BJP),” he said.