BJP’s game plan

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at Lalkar Rally in Jammu has called for debate on Aricle 370, which provides special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. BJP has been making demand for the complete abrogation of Article 370 since its Jansangh days. His call for debate is just opposite to his party's stated stand that constitutes the core of its ideology. It means there is a politically well-thought out game plan to get power at the Centre after 2014 Lok Sabha elections if ever the BJP under his leadership wins considerable number of seats and emerges as the single largest party. Modi’s call for debate to know whether this Article 370 has benefited the state of Jammu and Kashmir clearly reflects his indication about softening of stand on it. It has triggered a fresh round of debate on the controversial issue. But many legal experts are of the view that abrogating the provision would put the accession of the state to India in jeopardy. Modi is a prime ministerial candidate of the main opposition party of the nation. He should have maintained his sanctity and avoided as important and controversial issue as Article 370. He should have refreshed his knowledge about it. As is the usual with him that he always takes little care about the correctness during his public speech, he has also done the same thing here on article 370. To reap political benefit, he said that with Article 370 in place in Jammu and Kashmir, the women of the state loose the right to property if she marries outside the state. It is wrong. The High court of Jammu and Kashmir in its decision has already granted equal right to man and woman in the state. Now the question arises why Modi has raised the controversial issue of Article 370 at this point of time when his party has been demanding nothing less than its complete abrogation. The core issue of BJP has been Abrogation of Article 370, Introduction of Uniform Civil Code and Construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and because of these core issues, it has been considered as untouchable by the secular political parties of the nation. BJP could only form the alliance called National Democratic Alliance under its tallest leader Atal Behari Vajpayee and ruled the country for six years from 1998-2004 when it put these three core issues on the back burner. It is clear that to find alliance partner is the most important requirement of BJP to form government in 2014 if ever it won considerable number of Lok Sabha seats. So, raising the issue of article 370 in Jammu and softening stand on it by none other than its prime ministerial candidate is nothing but the BJP’s game plan to expand its acceptability among different regional parties to reach the magic mark of 272 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.