BJP working hard to make inroads in Kashmir and Muslim pockets of Jammu

to connect the Muslim youths to the mainstream.

The police, which recovered Gauhar’s throat-slit body from a Shopian orchard on Thursday, blamed the killing on the militants. The BJP has been able to bring some youths from far off villages of Kashmir into the party fold in the recent months.

The BJP has been working very hard in the Kashmir valley and in the Muslim dominated pockets in the Jammu region and is eyeing Muslim OBCs. A senior party leader told The Sunday Guardian that they have deputed state general secretary Narindra Singh to Kashmir to increase the party’s membership from among this section. He said that the recent successful OBC conference in Srinagar was the result of the hard work they have done in the rural areas of Kashmir to make the party strong.

State BJP president Sat Sharma told this reporter that the backward classes in the Kashmir valley have been left out in all spheres of life and their social and economic condition was not good. He said that the BJP would provide them with political space and would work for their empowerment. Sharma revealed that the BJP would raise their issues in the state Cabinet meeting very soon.

In the recent conference, the OBCs of Kashmir demanded 27% reservation for them in J&K as per the recommendations of the Mandal Com- mission and the state BJP has promised that they will fulfill this demand.

In the recent months, the BJP has been also able to rope in many Gujjar leaders into its fold.

The BJP is eyeing the Gujjars and the Bakarwals along with the other Backward Classes to make a base among the Muslims in Kashmir.