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An old ‘panther’ at the helm, how AAP’s expanding and going all out against BJP in J&K

Under charge of ex-chairman of Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party Harsh Dev Singh & a Delhi team, AAP’s ranks in J&K have swelled in past few months, with rallies ‘every 2-3 days’.

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Jammu/Samba: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is new, improved and ready to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a run for its votes in Jammu and Kashmir. Or so seemed to be the oft-repeated refrain at an AAP rally this Sunday at Bari Brahmana in Jammu’s Samba district.

“There are at least 50 to 100 people joining the party on a daily basis”, Harsh Dev Singh, chairman of the AAP’s state coordination committee in J&K, told ThePrint.

Singh himself is a new entrant to the AAP. Until May, he was chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), but now he seems right at home addressing the small sea of white caps gleaming under the noonday sun at Bari Brahmana.

By his side on the dais is another former JKNPP leader, Yash Paul Kundal. Both ex-Panthers were ministers under the Congress-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government from 2002-2008.

While Singh and Kundal are its most prominent new faces, the J&K AAP has seen major changes over the past few months. All the previous units in the party were dissolved in July to “strengthen the organisation”, but since then it has been on a major expansion drive.

In the past two months, the party has appointed 1,450 new office bearers. The block-level appointments are complete, while village committees are still being filled. For more targeted outreach, the party has created separate wings for youth, women, doctors, farmers, traders, minorities, Scheduled Caste members, and more.

According to party leaders, a two-month drive from July through August to recruit volunteers was highly successful. The party now claims to have 12,500 volunteers in Jammu province and 8,000 in Kashmir.

An AAP squad from Delhi has also been camping in the state to help rebuild the J&K organisation. One member of this team is Vaibhav Tiwari, an in-house media relations expert who was involved in the party’s successful Delhi and Punjab campaigns.

AAP rally on 27 November at Bari Brahmana in Jammu’s Samba district | Credit: Amogh Rohmetra | ThePrint

According to him, the state unit had to be dissolved since “some people” had joined not with the aim of public service but to “become MLAs or councillors”. Tiwari has been in the state since 4 July, the day the dissolution was announced.

Media visibility is another aspect of the party’s expansion efforts. For instance, local papers have of late featured full-page ads extolling the achievements of the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government, which has been in power in neighbouring Punjab since March. “24 hrs bijli, sasti bijli (cheap electricity, 24 hours a day),” said one ad. “Seven months vs 70 years,” said another.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal also plans to visit J&K in December after the Gujarat assembly elections and Delhi municipal polls conclude, ThePrint has learnt.

So, what’s on the party’s agenda in J&K? According to AAP leaders and workers ThePrint spoke to, the main effort is to position the party as a direct challenger to the BJP on planks such as unemployment and inflation, while giving a wide berth to Article 370.


Also read: ‘Don’t give BJP a free run, fight elections’ — Omar Abdullah’s message to J&K parties


Focus on BJP’s ‘failures’

While AAP’s central machinery is preoccupied with the polls in Delhi and Gujarat, J&K state coordination committee chairman Harsh Dev Singh has been keeping the wheels turning with regular rallies and protests across the Jammu region.

Once the face of the JKNPP, which he left after falling out with its founder Bhim Singh, Harsh Dev Singh said the AAP’s on-the-ground efforts include door-to-door campaigns, corner meetings, public gatherings, and rallies.

“We are getting good responses in rallies. We are doing big rallies every two or three days. We had done one in Chenani a few days back where thousands turned up,” he claimed.

“Due to the BJP government, people are facing inflation and unemployment, villages are being ignored, water is bad, roads are bad, there’s no staff in schools. Academic activities have been completely paralysed,” he alleged. “AAP is needed for change. People are seeing the revolution in education and health in Delhi, so they have hope.”

A major emphasis of the party, Tiwari told ThePrint, was to make people “aware” of the BJP’s alleged failures over the “past eight years”.

This timeframe starts from 2014, when the BJP won 25 seats in the assembly elections and was in a coalition government with the PDP until 2018. After the assembly was dissolved in 2018, the state was under governor’s rule until August 2019, when the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution — which granted ‘autonomy’ to J&K — and also revoked its statehood.

Since then, the Union territory of J&K has been under the administration of the lieutenant governor, who was appointed by the President on the advice of the BJP-led central government’s council of ministers.

Strategy in practice

At the Samba rally Sunday, the crowd comprised about 200 AAP workers, some of whom had just been inducted into the party.

All the six speakers addressing them, from block presidents to Singh, seemed to be following a formula of sorts in their speeches: all gave examples of Delhi’s policies, then Punjab’s, and then finally an all-out attack on the BJP on issues such as unemployment and inflation.

For instance, AAP youth wing leader Prem Nath told the audience that the AAP was their “only ray of hope”.

“We have proven (ourselves) in Delhi and we have proven in Punjab,” he said, adding that though many “big BJP leaders” had promised employment and acchhe din (good days), the results had been disappointing.

“We have made them (BJP) win five elections — two Lok Sabhas, one assembly, BDC (Block Development Council), and DDC (District Development Council) elections but Aam Aadmi was never heard,” he said.

Yash Paul Kundal, chairman of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Other Backward Class welfare committee took a similar line.

“Take the message to every house — see the rate of cylinder, vegetables, etc. Save the future of our youth,” he said.

Local AAP leaders at the 27 November rally at Samba | Credit: Amogh Rohmetra | ThePrint

The party’s focus on employment and rising prices seems to have resonated with many youth. At the Samba rally, Mohammad Hamid said he had “hope” in the AAP.

“My brother is a BJP sarpanch. But I am joining the Aam Aadmi Party. I have a graduate degree and yet I am unemployed. I have tried at so many places but there is just no job,” Hamid said.

Another local youth, Ahmed Azad said that AAP deserved “one chance” at least.

“We went to a lot of places with our problems, especially to those who have been in power at one point of time, but to no avail. That’s why I have joined this party,” Azad said.

‘Article 370 not so big’

Since August 2019, regional political parties like the National Conference and PDP have been clamouring to restore statehood as well as Article 370.

However, AAP has made it clear that the restoration of Article 370 is not a part of its agenda.

“Article 370 is not as big for us. We say people’s work should happen. Let the Supreme Court decide on Article 370,” Harsh Dev Singh said. “The main issue for us is corruption.”

Tiwari, too, said the AAP did not have a “stake” in Article 370 and would “welcome” whatever the Supreme Court decides, but added that the restoration of statehood would be an important issue for the party going into the elections.

The conduct of the polls themselves is a hot button issue.

During his visit to Kashmir last month, Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the next assembly elections in J&K will be held once the electoral rolls are revised.

However, a date is yet to be announced, leading to criticism that elections are being delayed.

At a protest rally last Friday, Singh alleged that the BJP was obstructing the democratic process and also criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Nevertheless, despite the uncertainty around elections, the party plans to ramp up its activities in the coming weeks.

Kejriwal and Kashmir

AAP plans to bring out the big guns, as it were, once the polls in Delhi and Gujarat conclude.

“Gradually, [Kejriwal’s] visits will start,” Tiwari said. “Once the elections are over, we will start jan sabhas (public meetings) in every assembly, every district.” These gatherings, he added, will include visits from AAP MLAs and ministers.

Door-to-door campaigns will also be given an impetus, Tiwari said, much as they were ahead of polls in Delhi and Punjab. However, he acknowledged that this could be a tricky proposition in the Kashmir Valley.

“Door-to-door is a challenge in Kashmir because of the security, although none of our leaders have got any threat,” Tiwari said.

Another issue could be that AAP has no major face in Kashmir, unlike Jammu, although Singh said this would not affect the party’s ability to connect with people.

Tiwari noted that “democratic activities” were even more crucial in Kashmir than in Jammu.

“Our activities will happen simultaneously in both regions. For Kejriwal sir, both provinces will be of equal importance.”

(Edited by Asavari Singh)


Also read: Ghulam Nabi Azad has some advice for his former party — ‘first Congress jodo, then Bharat jodo’


 

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