NEW DELHI: The BJP appears to have found a nationalist in Sajjad Lone. The former Jammu and Kashmir separatist and People’s Conference leader on Monday called on Narendra Modi to discuss a host of “development issues” for his State, and came out singing paeans for the Prime Minister.
The meeting, coming ahead of the J&K elections, suggests that the BJP is willing to engage with smaller parties in the Valley to win. Kashmir region has 46 seats in the 87-seat Assembly and is thus a key to who rules the State.
“I came as a Kashmiri to meet the PM and was pleasantly surprised with his down-to-earth personality, his vision about bringing in investments into the State,” Lone told the media after his 30-minute meeting with Modi. The Kashmiri leader’s praise made it clear that the BJP’s efforts to keep him by its side during the election season has paid off.
First it was BJP general secretary J P Nadda (now Union Health Minister), who met Lone in June, and later another BJP general secretary Ram Madhav held negotiations with him so that the BJP had an ally in the Muslim-majority Valley, which was a politically difficult terrain for the saffron party.
“We are ready to do business with those who follow nationalistic sentiment. Only nationalists would be welcome within the BJP fold,” a senior BJP leader had said when negotiations were on with Lone and others. “People in the Valley are fed up with mainstream parties like NC, PDP and Congress, and they want development. So development will be the main plank for the elections,” the leader added.
The BJP is trying to enlist the support of communities like Shias, Gujjars and Bakarwals in the Valley. It had recently announced a list of candidates for the State which included 14 Muslims, the first-ever time such a huge number of seats had been allotted for the minority community by the BJP.
The electoral math explains the efforts made by the BJP in reaching out to people like Lone. The BJP needs 44 seats to form the government in the State. The Jammu region where the party hopes to do well has 37 seats and Leh has four seats. Though it would hope for a good performance in Jammu and Leh, the BJP would need the numbers from the Valley. So, by keeping Lone on its side, the party would like to project itself as a party sensitive to the needs of the Muslims.
Lone’s father had earlier contested on Congress ticket, but later formed the People’s Conference and demanded autonomy. He was killed in 2002.