Srinagar- After facing drubbing in the recently held Kargil hill council polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership have started reaching out to the people, especially the religious figures in Jammu and Kashmir, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year.
The latest example of this outreach programme came to light during party’s J&K president, Ravinder Raina visit to influential south Kashmir cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi on Wednesday. The BJP leader was warmly received by people present at Dawoodi residence with garlands.
Notably, Maulana Dawoodi along with Maulana Mushtaq Veeri were released last month after spending a year behind bars under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Dawoodi, who leads the ‘Tehreek e Sowtul Auliya’ organization headquartered in Anantnag, holds a considerable influence in South Kashmir. Maulana Veeri is a prominent religious leader associated with Jamiat-e-Ahl e Hadith.
“There was no meeting between us. Hundreds of people from different walks of life came to see me after I was released from jail, he (Raina) was one among them,” Dawoodi told Kashmir Observer.
The BJP leader, he said, visited him in a personal capacity and had nothing to do with politics.
Raina’s warm up to the Valley clerics comes close on the heels of her party colleague and Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board Chairperson Dr Darakhshan Andrabi’s meeting with Veeri last month. Andrabi also gifted a Kashmiri shawl to Veeri days after he was released by the government.
Raina was on his two-day visit to the Valley during which he met many public representatives and common people. He also visited Anantnag to express condolence over the demise of Late Dr Qazi Nisar’s wife.
According to sources, Raina traveled by train from Banihal to Baramulla to gauge the mood of the people and listen to their grievances.
BJP spokesperson, Altaf Thakur told Kashmir Observer that the saffron party is all set to launch an outreach campaign across Jammu and Kashmir.
The BJP, he said, is starting its “outreach and mass contact program” from October 20 in the Union Territory in view of the possible parliamentary elections.
“We are now in the mood for parliamentary elections and we will start preparing for it,” Thakur said, adding that the outreach program will also be started in the Jammu region as well.
“From block level to district level, we will meet everyone,” he said, adding that the party will focus more on the South Kashmir constituency in the up-coming parliamentary elections.
Another BJP leader from Jammu said that the “star” leaders of the saffron party will be joining the party unit for the election campaign.
Pertinently, J&K Waqf Board had invited eminent scholar Maulana Ghulam Rasool Hami on the launch of Board’s new logo on September 7. Both Maulana Hami and Dr Darakhshan Andrabi jointly unveiled the logo at Waqf’s Srinagar office in presence of Ulema and officials.
In the same month, a group of religious scholars hailing from Baramulla held a meeting with Dr. Andrabi. The purpose of their meeting was to deliberate on matters concerning the well-being of the populace and the advancement of Sufi traditions.
“There is nothing wrong in meeting prominent religious leaders and it’s not always about politics,” Andrabi told Kashmir Observer.
She said that the BJP welcomes all people in the party irrespective of caste, creed, religion and race.
“Let me tell you nobody is anti-national nowadays. Everyone wants to work for the wellbeing of the society,” she added.
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