BJP to cash in on Uttarakhand’s martyrs

The BJP had won all the four Lok Sabha seats and 17 out of total19 assembly seats from the proposed Uttarakhand region comprising Garhwal and Kumoan. But its failure to fulfill the promise of creating Uttarakhand state within 90 days of coming to power, the 26 amendments to the Uttarakhand Bill proposed by the UP government, seeking complete control over the water resources had contributed to the party’s popularity taking a nosedive in the past year. In addition, the dithering over the Fernandes committee formed to decide the issue of inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district into the proposed Uttarakhand state, led to widespread resentment against the ruling party.

However, the party has been quick to capitalise on the Kargil issue. While UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh announced relief of Rs 20 lakh to the families of soldiers killed in Kargil, local leaders vied with their rivals to attend the funeral ceremonies of the dead heroes.

Most ministers, legislators and local leaders had visited the homes of soldiers killed at the front to console them and pay them therelief amount.The local media too gave widespread publicity to these events, creating a positive response from a region which has one of the highest number of ex-servicemen and serving jawans in the defence and other para-military forces. Dr Devender Bhasin, spokes-man of the Uttaranchal unit of the BJP, however, denied that there was any politics involved in it. “We have only given the due respect which the brave martyrs deserved,” he said.

Infighting amongst Congressmen in the region and the inability of the party’s leadership to visit the families of the martyrs or to be present at their funerals has added to their distancing from the masses. The party also failed to highlight the failure of the Kargil conflict as a political plank against the BJP. Even the Samajwadi Party which has limited areas of influence in the region has done better. Party leaders visited affected families and attended the funerals regularly. They too tried to put the BJP on the mat for its failure and large-scale casualtiesof Indian soldiers in Kargil. “We also do not want to make political capital out of Kargil in which our jawans have been making supreme sacrifice and evicted the enemy, but the ruling BJP owes an explanation to the nation regarding the circumstances leading to Kargil,” said Surya Kant Dhasmana, all-India vice-president of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha.

Some Congress leaders did try to compete with the BJP by putting up banners and posters at prominent places in the towns and cities, eulogising the jawans but clearly, the two-month conflict has made the road to the Lok Sabha easier for the BJP. On the other hand, the Congress which dreamt of thriving on the woes of its political rivals has found itself in a bind on the issue.