In the shadows of the mighty Pir Panjal range, a tale of political resilience and regional identity unfolded in Jammu and Kashmir this week. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), despite its access to official machinery, substantial electoral weight (at least in other parts of the country) and strategic manoeuvrings, has failed yet again to secure a significant presence in the disputed Kashmir Valley and the Muslim majority region of Jammu in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In essence, the court-mandated elections in the state have given the BJP a rude awakening after it belligerently and unilaterally voided the special status of the region in 2019. They have also served as a stark reminder of the region's enduring spirit of autonomy and resistance to external dominance.

Votes speak louder

Historically, the BJP has struggled to establish a foothold in the predominantly Muslim regions of the disputed territory, an area with deep-rooted political and social complexities.

During the 2014 and 2019 elections, the party could not secure any seats in the Kashmir Valley - even as it attempted to play up the religious differences between resident communities following a strategy it had found successful within other parts of the country. And despite investing heavily in the region for nearly a decade to win favour, it failed to overturn its fortunes in the latest polls.

Out of the 90 seats up for grabs in the region, the BJP managed only 29. All the seats that the BJP won were confined to the Hindu belt of the Jammu region. Despite deploying 19 candidates across the valley, not one succeeded in their bid, underscoring the BJP's unpopularity. Most of them even lost their........

© The Friday Times