It appears that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plan to expand its footprint in the Kashmir valley has received a jolt from the killing of Ghulam Nabi Patel on Wednesday. Hours after he was killed by militants at the market in Rajpora, many of BJP’s followers there and in the wider area of the south have fled and taken refuge in Srinagar.
The party is looking to accommodate around 30-odd “workers” in private accommodations in Srinagar who have been shaken by the attack in broad daylight on a politician who had two armed guards with him all the time. The party followers fear they might be a target of such attack too.
“Militants are locals and know everything about us. We cannot lie or presume they are ignorant,” said a BJP leader, who arrived in Srinagar from the south on Thursday morning. “There is no doubt that activist and workers are well-connected with police but that is not helping at all.”
In Srinagar office, the party workers looked harried as they struggled with the incessant telephone calls coming from the south. All of them seem to have one demand in common: get us accommodation in Srinagar. The city to them looks safe. “During last one and half year many of our workers have shifted to Jammu and some are even constructing houses there,” said BJP leader.
The BJP leader who fled from the south said there is no safety for political workers at all. “Nobody knew exactly that Patel was our man, but militants knew that somehow,” he said adding that nobody gives the correct feedback to the people at the helm of affairs. “Anyone can be the target.”
He said that the militants have changed tactics and are moving in large groups, which help them to barge into houses of people. “They catch hold of people like us and later release videos,” he added.
Many a time the suspected militants have released videos of political workers, pleading with them to spare their lives and distancing themselves from pro-India political parties. BJP general secretary (Organizations) Ashok Kaul said that security is being provided. “Some have been given security and some will be provided soon,” Kaul told the Kashmir Post.
In March after an attack on their party activist in the Balhama area of Srinagar, BJP had demanded security cover for 31 “leaders” in Kashmir. Details about these 31 persons, including eight top and 25 middle-rung leaders, all of them Kashmiris, had been provided to the police by the party.
On 15 March, a personal security officer of a BJP activist was injured when suspected militants fired at him on Srinagar outskirts, which the police later described as a “failed attempt” to snatch his official weapon.
BJP workers flee for their lives, a day after militants kill one
