The massive mobilisation of Bharatiya Janata Party workers at Srinagar’s historic Lal Chowk has delivered a political message that cannot be dismissed as just another protest. The September 2 rally represents an important shift in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir and demonstrates the BJP’s determination to challenge the National Conference not merely inside the Legislative Assembly, but also on the streets of Kashmir.

BJP workers assembled at Ghanta Ghar in Lal Chowk and attempted to march towards the Civil Secretariat, raising issues including unemployment, electricity tariffs, alleged corruption, outsourcing and backdoor appointments, delay in grassroots elections and what the party described as the National Conference government’s failure to honour its electoral commitments.

The importance of the mobilisation, however, goes much beyond these immediate issues. For decades, BJP’s political opponents have attempted to portray it as essentially a Jammu-centric force with limited political space in the Kashmir Valley. The Srinagar mobilisation challenges that narrative.A political party does not establish itself in a new political territory overnight. It does so by building cadres, raising public issues, creating local leadership and, most importantly, demonstrating the organisational capacity and political confidence to take its message directly to the people. That is precisely why Lal Chowk matters.

The BJP presently has no Assembly seat from the Kashmir Valley. Yet the sight of hundreds of its workers assembling at the symbolic heart of Srinagar and seeking to march towards the seat of government demonstrates that electoral representation and organisational presence are not necessarily the same thing. The message from the BJP is clear: it intends to fight for political space in Kashmir.

Perhaps the most significant feature of the rally was the choice of issues. The BJP did not restrict its campaign to constitutional questions or nationalism. It raised unemployment, electricity tariffs, recruitment, roads, water, corruption and governance. This represents an important evolution in its Kashmir strategy.

The constitutional transformation of August 2019........

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