BJP office comes up in Valley’s separatist stronghold

As the saffron flag of the BJP flutters opposite a huge green signboard on a narrow lane in posh Rajbagh area here, the contrast could not have been more stark. While the former opposes even autonomy for J&K and has been seeking abrogation of Article 370 that accords special status to the state, the latter symbolises the demand for separation. The BJP has opened its office in the Valley right in front of the office of the Hurriyat Conference. The area houses offices of over a dozen separatist groups.

Some 100 metre from the BJP office is a double-storeyed building housing the office of hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s Tehreek-i-Hurriyat. On the other side, the BJP office is surrounded by the Muslim League (ML), a breakaway group of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and the People’s Political Movement (PPM). All these are espousing the separatist cause.

BJP is the first mainstream political party that has set up its office next to the central office of the Hurriyat Conference.

The rationale behind the move? ‘‘We want to send the message that we are Indians and can set up office wherever we want to,’’ says BJP’s Kashmir president, Sofi Yousuf. ‘‘We are here to welcome all those who want to join us even if they are from the Hurriyat,’’ he adds.

The party flags flutter at the main entrance to the BJP office building. The room inside the complex is adorned by the posters of former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. While a lone gun-wielding policeman guards the office, across the lane, the Hurriyat office is guarded by five policemen, signifying the wind s of change that has been blowing for the past 15 years.

What’s more, the JKLF office is housed in the same building as the BJP office, but they face opposite directions.