'15 Muslim BJP Candidates In Kashmir'

'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'

The Bharatiya Janata Party is known to not field many Muslims when it comes to elections in India.

So when it does, it becomes a note-worthy occasion.

In the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections the BJP has fielded not one or two but 15 Muslim candidates.

"It was only the Muftis, Congress and Abdullahs that benefited from Article 370 of the Constitution. Common Kashmiris only suffered due to it," Manzoor Bhat, journalist turned senior BJP leader in Kashmir, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

How do you see the election outcome in Jammu and Kashmir?

Our party workers are working in full swing across Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed the face of Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years of his rule.

More than one crore (10 million) tourists come to Jammu and Kashmir, which was unheard of in earlier times and this has been made possible because of PM Modi's policies.

Not a single Kashmir resident has been killed by militants in the last five years. The terrorism graph has drastically come down and these are the things which we are highlighting to our voters in our campaign as our achievement.

Why is the BJP then not contesting all 47 assembly seats in Kashmir?

We have 47 assembly seats in Kashmir and we are contesting on 19 seats. You know the BJP believes in the nation first policy and if you see the history of elections in Kashmir, you will find only three parties contesting elections -- the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party or the Congress party.

No poor man with little resources could contest elections in Kashmir. They had no space in the politics of Kashmir.

We adopteda three-tier system of solutions for Kashmir.

For the first time we had district development council (DDC) elections in Kashmir. The election for the mayor's seat for Srinagar never happened in the last 20 years. We got that election done. We got democracy in Kashmir at the grass root level.

We have been successful in this and now we are having assembly elections. Even if we win a less number of seats in this election, we will contest from all seats in Kashmir in the next elections .

Are you in alliance with any party or supporting any Independent?

The BJP never does backstabbing politics in Kashmir. We are contesting the Jammu and Kashmir elections without any alliance.

In the DDC elections, seven parties came together and they named it as PAGD (People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration) to contest against the BJP and yet the BJP came out with the largest number of seats in that elections.

It is always said the BJP never gives tickets to Muslim candidates. Is this true for Kashmir?

It is not true. Our biggest priority in Jammu and Kashmir is democracy and secularism. Hindu-Muslims and Sikhs live as brothers here. We have only one policy in our party, that whoever our worker and from whichever religion he comes from must work for the betterment of people and society.

There are many Muslim candidates who are contesting on a BJP ticket in the Jammu and Kashmir elections.

How many Muslim candidates are from the BJP?

We have 15 Muslim candidates contesting on the BJP's ticket in Jammu and Kashmir. They will win hands down from their respective seats.

What about te statehood of Jammu and Kashmir? Will your party restore it?

Yes, we will restore statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

Our party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said categorically on the floor of the House that the BJP will restore statehood in Jammu and Kashmir once the conditions are suitable.

Is Engineer Rashid a ploy of the BJP? Many people believe so in Kashmir.

Whoever speaks of separatism and a pro-Pakistan policy in Kashmir, we will never support those people.

Engineer Rashid speaks in the tone of the Hurriyat Conference. He is on interim bail and we have to respect court decisions, but we cannot give space to people who speak against the Indian Union.

Many political observers say Engineer Rashid's release has put the Abdullahs of the National Conference in trouble. Do you feel so?

There is no doubt about it. The National Conference has treated the people of Kashmir badly and they have no space in Kashmir politics.

The BJP will not suffer due to Engineer Rashid entering the contest, it is the NC which will suffer for sure.

You will see the outcome of the elections on October 8. The BJP will be the number one party in the state.

Are you indicating that Jammu and Kashmir will see its first BJP chief minister?

Inshallah! BJP workers are working in full swing in Jammu and Kashmir. You can see that on the roads.

What about the fact that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will have the keys to power rather than the elected chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir?

Jammu and Kashmir has not got full statehood. It is a Union Territory. If you see other Union territories like Lakshadweep, the administrator is the LG only, and we as a party have no problem till we get statehood back.

Do Kashmiris support the BJP stance on the abrogation of Article 370?

People of Jammu and Kashmir have understood that Article 370 only shielded corrupt families and certain bureaucrats.

Article 370 only helped the PDP and National Conference. The common man of Kashmir didn't benefit from Article 370.

No employment was created by these vested interests in Kashmir due to Article 370. In the coming days you will see that the people of Kashmir realised that Article 370 was only a piece of paper and nothing more than that.

So is Article 370 dead forever?

Farooq Abdullah said it will take another 100 years to bring back Article 370.

I fail to understand how Engineer Rashid will bring Article 370 back as he has been claiming in his speeches.

The Supreme Court of India too gave a nod to the abrogation of Article 370 and we all need to respect that.

If you do not respect the Supreme Court's judgment then I believe you do not believe in the Indian Constitution.

Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out. Once in, it will never come back.