The trio that grabbed headlines in Kashmir by breaching the privilege of the state legislature was actually announcing the arrival of a new party that the erstwhile BJP lawmakers have fathered, SHAMS IRFAN reports.
In an unusual fashion, three youth created ruckus in Jammu and Kashmir assembly when they suddenly jumped into the well waving flags and shouting slogans demanding implementation of employment policy. The marshalls stopped and dragged them out of the house before they could make it to the well. Initial investigations suggested that the trio Manish Khajuria, Sunny Malhotra and Ambedkar Gupta belonged to BJP.
But later, the speaker, Muhammad Akbar Lone, informed the house that they were given the passes on the request of expelled BJP lawmaker Jagdish Raj Sapolia and the flags waved by them belonged to Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF), a new political party floated by Sapolia.
Days later, the speaker suspended five security personnel for the ‘security breach’ in the house. But the police denied any lax on its part and said that it was not a security breach as the three men has proper passes issued by Sapolia to witness the proceedings from the public gallery.
The police said all three stayed with Sapolia at his official Srinagar residence and he drove them to the house in his official car. In a televised interview, Anil Gupta, former vice president, BJP, and chairman of the newly formed JKDF confessed that the trio belonged to his party and were simply trying to make their voices heard in a democratic manner.
Anil Gupta, who himself was expelled from the BJP for indulging in anti party activities, recently said he would not allow BJP to win even a single seat in the upcoming Jammu Municipal Corporation elections. In April 2011, while electing members of the state legislature, the BJP lawmakers voted for the ruling coalition instead of voting for their own party candidate. Out of 11 elected members, the BJP’s official candidate, Ranjit Singh, got only four votes as NC bagged four and Congress took the remaining three. It created a hue and cry and the BJP was forced to order an internal enquiry into the cross voting incident.
After initial investigations, BJP found Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, India’s former junior defence minister, guilty and expelled him from the party for six years. The other six lawmakers – J R Sapolia, Bharat Bhushan, Gharu Ram, Baldev Raj, Durga Dass and Lal Chand- were suspended. To make matters worse for BJP in the state, all six suspended lawmakers announced their support to Gupta. BJP wrote to Lone suggesting him to expel all seven from the assembly. But Lone refused since the case was sub judice.
On the other hand, the Congress stepped up the campaign to ensure an early exit of the ‘tainted’ BJP legislators from the assembly to enforce by-poll on these seats. Congress was sure that it will have upper hand on all these vacant seats in case of a by-poll as BJP’s credibility in Jammu has taken a major beating.
But Congress’s coalition partner, NC, wanted these BJP lawmakers to remain part of the assembly as their expulsion would have given Congress an edge in the coalition. As no decision was taken by the speaker on their expulsion, BJP expelled the remaining six lawmakers in November 2011, reducing its number in the house to five.
BJP rose to prominence in the state after it successfully stirred the communal sentiments in Jammu during 2008 Amarnath land row. The party which has won just one seat in 87 strong state assembly in 2002 polls instantly found that lost connection with people in Jammu when government announced a roll back in transfer of land to Amarnath Board.
Sensing opportunity, BJP state president Ashok Khajuria immediately announced an economic blockade of valley which saw tensions escalating between Kashmir and Jammu. Following the unrest, the state went to polls in November 2008 and BJP, for the first time, won 11 seats in J&K announcing its arrival in the state politics.
But it took BJP lawmakers only a while to figure out that the party’s national politics has no takers in J&K. They found themselves corned by both ruling alliance partners and the main opposition PDP. After managing full media publicity in wake of his party members creating a scene in the assembly, Anil Gupta is eying BJP’s core ideology by using the same rhetoric but in a localized tone. He is giving BJP sleepless nights by raking the issue of discrimination of the people of Jammu by Kashmir dominated lawmakers – which is part of core Sangh Parivar ideology. Recently, at a public meeting, veteran leader Chaman Lal Gupta supported JKDF’s demand of statehood for the Jammu region.
Only a week-old in J&K, JKDF is eyeing a bigger share in the state politics.
