RSS blamed for deadly blow to BJP

The smiling faces of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Thursday after results of the Jammu and Kashmir polls were announced failed to display their real anger.

With the party which with eight legislators was the second largest party in the outgoing assembly winning just one seat, alarm bells have started to ring in BJP circles.

For records, the BJP leaders have been hailing their failure as the victory of the party-led federal government for its ability to hold a free and fair election in the state despite threats from terrorist groups, but within party circles whispers have already started that they have been stabbed in the back by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"It was call of the RSS to its cadres to vote for any party or candidate capable of defeating the National Conference (NC) that resulted into they voting en bloc for the Congress party," a senior BJP functionary told Gulf News yesterday.

This is the second occasion for the RSS to have indirectly helped the Congress party after it openly supported the Congress party during the 1984 general elections resulting into the BJP winning only two seats in the Lok Sabha then.

The RSS, by indirectly extending its support to the Congress party, has put the BJP on a virtual notice that they better fall in line or be prepared to face a humiliating defeat during the fast approaching 2004 general elections.

Differences between the RSS and the BJP that is seen as its political organ have come to the fore over the government's liberalisation policy and the BJP's decision to put on the backburner some of its pro-Hindu agenda that is said to have helped it come to power at the centre in the first place.

"It is a mild reminder to us by the RSS that what harm can they cause to the party," the BJP functionary said.

Among its pro-Hindu agenda that the BJP has put on the backburner are scrapping of Article 370 that gives the state of Jammu and Kashmir a special status within Indian Republic and a common civil code in the country, besides construction of a Hindu temple in place of the demolished Babri Mosque at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP traditionally depends on the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for door-to-door canvassing during polls, given the fact that both RSS and VHP have their dedicated followers all across the country.

What infuriated the RSS further was the BJP's outright rejection of its proposal to trifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into three smaller states. It propped up a Jammu State Morcha (JSM) which went to polls supporting trifurcation of the state.

The BJP, fearing split of votes, was forced to enter into an alliance with the JSM despite its inherent differences.

The BJP sources now say that realising that the JSM had failed to take off and had only created confusion among the Hindu voters of the state, the RSS gave the eleventh hour call to its cadres to instead vote for the Congress party since it wanted to ensure defeat of the NC "at any cost".

Besides the RSS factor, the BJP admits that they also suffered due to the sweeping anti-incumbency factor that went against the NC. NC is a minor partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre.

BJP circles point out that their voters did not accept this alliance and the minute sabre rattling by the leaders of the two parties during electioneering did not help, as until joining the NDA, the NC was opposed to a "anti-secular" BJP.

Political analysts also feel that NC had to pay some price for being seen by the BJP's side at the centre since its essentially Muslim voters did not like it hobnobbing with a party whose government in Gujarat failed to prevent genocide of fellow Muslims during the recent communal riots.

Moreover, the NC inability to get any greater autonomy for the state despite being a partner in the central government was not liked by its voters, since the BJP was opposed to it.

While the NC is undecided over whether to continue as a partner in the NDA, the BJP has said that it was for the NC to decide.

NC president Omar Abdullah continues to be the junior foreign minister and despite his repeated threats to resign as a central minister, he has not yet sent his resignation.