Sangh Parivar ticks off BJP

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 12

Disappointed with the performance of BJP ministers in the previous coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti, leaders of the Sangh Parivar on Wednesday regretted that the party leadership in the state had wasted a “historic opportunity” to change J&K’s political discourse.

During the 10-hour-long meeting, offshoots of the Sangh Parivar discussed all issues concerning J&K. The leaders had met for to assess the outcome of the coalition experiment in the state for the first time after breaking of the PDP-BJP alliance.

Apparently admitting that the party is facing a credibility deficit due to the performance of its ex-ministers in the previous regime, Sangh Parivar leaders emphasised the need to improve the party’s image to retain Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections, said a senior BJP leader who attended the meeting.

Sources said the top RSS leaders observed that the coalition experiment had not yielded expected results. “Either the ministers floundered or they had some other priorities,” a source said. The BJP ministers in the previous regime have faced allegations of corruption and nepotism.

The Sangh Parivar also received feedback that the party’s former ministers had completely surrendered to the PDP leadership to remain in power.

During the over three-year tenure of the government, the BJP ministers failed to implement any issue concerning the Jammu region on the ground.

All prominent leaders of the state BJP were invited for the brainstorming session on Wednesday so that a new strategy could be devised for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The sources said the Sangh Parivar also decided to aggressively pursue its agenda in the state to boost morale of the “nationalist forces.” Besides devising a strategy to make inroads in new areas of J&K, Parivar also reaffirmed its commitment to continue the “fight” against Article 35A and Article 370.

Two top leaders of RSS namely Manmohan Vaidya and Krishan Goptal, both “sah sarkaryavah” (joint general secretaries) had come from Delhi to attend the meeting. A key functionary in the RSS, the main job of Krishan Gopal is to coordinate between the BJP and Sangh Parivar.

Two national general secretaries of the BJP Ram Lal and Ram Madhav also especially came for the meeting. Madhav, who was in Srinagar, attended the second session of the meeting.

Reaffirms vow to fight Articles 35A, 370

• The Sangh Parivar decided to aggressively pursue its agenda in the state to boost morale of the “nationalist forces.” 
• The Sangh Parivar reaffirmed its commitment to continue the “fight” against Articles 35A and 370
• It said a strategy would be devised to make inroads in new areas of J&K