In Udhampur, a test for life after Article 370 abrogation
It’s a high-octane contest in Udhampur-Doda, one of the ve Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. It votes in the rst phase on April 19.
For the rst time after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the reach and appeal of the BJP’s Hindutva agenda will be tested here. That is set against “hurt Dogra pride”, represented by the chequered personality of Chaudhary Lal Singh.
The campaign reects the BJP’s eagerness to win the seat, as an ideological battleground. A close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jitendra Singh, is pitted against his former party colleague Mr. Lal Singh, who quit the BJP in 2018 to oat his own party, the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan, “to restore hurt Dogra pride”. This year, Mr. Lal Singh, in a surprise move, joined the Congress just days ahead of ling his nomination in March.
His candidacy is backed by the Congress ally, National Conference (NC), which once objected to his presence during the Bharat Jodo Yatra rally of Rahul Gandhi because of his past.
Star-studded campaign
From the Prime Minister to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the campaign trail had been lit up by the BJP’s top leaders. All of them have focused on what they say is the fruitful impact on J&K of the Centre’s decisive end to the erstwhile State’s special status in 2019.
“Ram Rajya has already started and the Uniform Civil Code is next,” Mr. Rajnath Singh announced during a rally.
The BJP’s Hindutva’s narrative, however, has been upended by Mr. Lal Singh, who has emerged as one of the few Hindu leaders from the Jammu division to question, and highlight the negative impact of, the abrogation of Article 370 on the Hindus of Jammu, especially the Dogras, who are the main voters in Kathua and Udhampur districts. Though both the BJP and Congress candidates are Rajputs, it’s hurt Dogra pride that Mr. Lal Singh claims to represent and reclaim.
Mr. Lal Singh has alleged that “non-locals and blue-eyed” people are occupying oces in the Union Territory, and accused the Lieutenant-Governor’s administration of “stepmotherly treatment to local employees”. Unlike the BJP’s grand, national-level initiatives projected in its rallies, Mr. Chaudhary has put the spotlight on the common man’s issues, including recruitment scams and the lack of an employment policy.
On special status
A votary of granting special status to J&K, essentially not the Congress’s stand, Mr. Chaudhary also sought a vote on ghting for Article 370, and laws safeguarding land and jobs for the local people. “If voted to power, I will raise voice for early Assembly polls and end of the proxy rule of the BJP,” Mr. Chaudhary, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case, said.
More than the BJP candidate, the Congress candidate’s biggest enemy is his past. He took out a controversial rally in Kathua as a BJP leader in 2018 in support of the accused of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal Muslim girl. He was forced to resign from the party after the then Peoples Democratic Party-BJP coalition government dropped him from the Cabinet.
Since 2004, the Congress has won the seat twice, and the BJP twice. Mr. Jitendra Singh won the 2019 election by a huge margin of 3.57 lakh votes. Besides the BJP and the Congress, former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party has its eyes on the seat, mainly with the Muslim votes of the Chenab Valley, which includes the Muslim-majority areas of Doda, Ramban, and Kishtwar. Mr. Azad has elded a close condant, G.M. Saroori, from his stronghold.
Nearly 16.22 lakh voters are set to decide the fate of the candidates, including 8.45 lakh men and 7.77 lakh women. The population is mainly spread in rural and hills areas. With wet weather predicted on April 19, voter turnout may be a¦ected in the upper reaches of the hills, where people have to trek to cast their votes.