On September 9, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned how Engineer Rashid led Awami Itihad Party (AIP) managed to mobilise resources for elections despite Rashid himself being in jail. Mehbooba claimed that after the BJP’s proxies failed in the Lok Sabha elections, it resorted to independents.
The independent candidates backed by both the AIP and the Jamaat-e-Islami are being perceived as new proxies of the BJP by the traditional political parties such as the PDP and the NC.
While Mehbooba openly referred to the AIP as BJP’s proxy and claimed that the true Jamaatis were in jail, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said that Rashid was released merely to fragment votes in the elections.
Rashid, who got an interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case on Tuesday, made headlines after he defeated Omar from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. His election rallies led by his son drew huge crowds, particularly of youth.
Old and new proxies
In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP did not field any candidate from the Valley and backed the Apni Party and Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference from behind the scenes. Although the BJP did not make any formal endorsements at a senior level, it made it clear that it would support the parties other than Congress, NC and PDP.
The Apni Party Chief Syed Altaf Bukhari, who served as a cabinet Minister in the PDP-BJP government said that BJP and his party were natural allies as they both were against dynasty politics.
The party contested from Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats, but lost both to the NC. Lone also lost the Baramulla parliament seat.
Previously, in the District Development Council elections (DDC) held in 2020 , the Apni Party won only 12 seats out of a total 280.
“As both the Apni Party and the PC put up a dismal performance, it spurred the BJP to look for new allies or proxies in the Valley,” said a political analyst.
He said that this time around the party seemed to be relying on independent candidates in the Valley.
However, according to Rekha Choudhary, an expert in identity politics and former professor at the University of Jammu, what the PDP is stating is in the realm of speculation.
“Engineer’s victory from Baramulla has boosted his confidence, which is why he is fielding candidates from different seats and this will likely impact the vote bank of traditional parties,” she said.
A Hindu CM
After the Delimitation Commission allocated six more Assembly seats to the Jammu region, the move has been seen as a step towards the fulfilment of the BJP’s long-standing dream of having a Hindu Chief Minister in Muslim-dominated Jammu and Kashmir. However, as the party is still struggling to gain a foothold in the valley, the traditional political parties believe that the BJP decided to rely on independents to gather sufficient numbers.