Valley leaders fear the absence of a familiar political hand who understood Kashmir’s pulse
SYED BASHARAT
SRINAGAR, Sept 26: The completion of Ashok Kaul’s 12-year tenure as BJP General Secretary (Organisation) for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is more than a routine organisational transition. For the BJP, it comes at a point when its political ambitions in Kashmir require a deeper understanding of the Valley, stronger grassroots communication and a leadership structure capable of translating local feedback into organisational strategy.
The BJP has clarified that Kaul has not resigned. He has completed his tenure and relinquished charge after 12 years, with the veteran leader now returning to his parent organisation, the RSS. Speaking to Kashmir Despatch, Kaul said he is now 70 and that age and health were among the considerations behind his decision. He said he would continue his organisational work with the RSS.
Kaul’s departure consequently raises a broader question for the BJP: how does the party preserve the Kashmir connect built over more than a decade while moving towards a new organisational arrangement?
For several Valley-based BJP leaders, the answer will depend largely on how the new leadership engages with the ground. Their concern is not simply about losing a familiar face. It is about retaining an organisational understanding of Kashmir that has been built through years of direct interaction with leaders, workers and political stakeholders.
A young BJP leader from the Valley described Kaul as the “main attraction in Kashmir province” and a “force to reckon with”, arguing that his importance lay in his understanding of the region rather than merely the authority attached to his position. Kaul, the leader said, knew Valley-based politicians closely, understood their backgrounds and was familiar with the political equations in which they operated.
More importantly, the leader said, Kaul listened.
He would take feedback from local leaders, examine it on its merits and either accept or reject it. Agreement was not automatic. Nor was disagreement necessarily confrontational. What mattered, the leader said, was that local voices had direct access to someone who understood the circumstances in which those views had emerged.
That ability to listen and interpret local feedback is being seen by several Valley leaders as an important organisational asset. Kashmir politics has its own vocabulary, sensitivities and internal dynamics. Political developments that may appear straightforward from outside can carry very different implications on the ground. For the BJP, which is seeking to strengthen its organisational and political presence in the Valley, understanding those nuances is central to its long-term strategy.
Several party leaders therefore believe the next organisational leadership will have to spend considerable time understanding Kashmir before attempting to reshape its political approach. Their concern is not about whether a leader comes from outside J&K. It is about whether that leader develops sufficient familiarity with the Valley before taking decisions that affect the party’s local organisation.
One Valley-based leader said the challenge would be to ensure that the new leadership does not view Kashmir exclusively through briefings provided by a limited circle of people. The leader said a broad feedback mechanism would be essential, with the organisational leadership maintaining direct contact with workers and leaders across districts rather than relying predominantly on a few established faces.
That concern goes to the heart of the BJP’s wider political project in Kashmir.
The party’s aspirations in the Valley cannot depend only on formal organisational structures. They require sustained engagement with local workers, an understanding of changing public sentiment and the ability to identify political opportunities and organisational weaknesses at the grassroots. A leadership that remains closely connected with the wider cadre, party leaders argue, is better placed to understand these shifts.
Kaul’s long tenure gave him precisely that institutional memory.
He knew the personalities.
He knew the disagreements.
He knew the history behind organisational decisions.
He knew which issues were temporary and which required sustained attention.
And he had spent years developing relationships across the Valley.
That accumulated experience cannot be transferred automatically to whoever assumes the next organisational responsibility. It has to be rebuilt through interaction.
For some Valley leaders, this is the most important implication of Kaul’s departure. They are not arguing for the preservation of the old structure. They are asking whether the new structure will retain the same level of local engagement.
Kaul himself appears confident that the transition will not affect the BJP’s functioning. Asked whether Valley leaders who had relied on his experience would face difficulties, he said the party’s activities would continue without him. He also said Kashmiri leaders would eventually become comfortable with the new leadership.
That confidence will now be tested in practice.
The transition comes as the BJP is itself reshaping its organisational structure in J&K. The party has appointed Satish Poonia as J&K in-charge and Reena Kashyap as co-in-charge, creating a new leadership combination at a crucial stage for the party’s Valley strategy.
The new arrangement will have to balance two requirements: organisational discipline from the top and political feedback from the ground.
The second may prove particularly important in Kashmir.
The BJP has invested considerable organisational energy in expanding its presence in the Valley. Its political outreach has brought new faces into the party, particularly younger leaders who have attempted to establish themselves in areas where the BJP has historically faced a difficult political environment. For these leaders, access to an organisational leadership that understands their circumstances can directly influence their ability to function effectively.
Prominent Pulwama BJP leader Arshid Bhat has described Kaul as a “visionary leader” and expressed deep disappointment over his departure from the organisational position. Bhat praised Kaul’s sincerity and what he described as his commitment to honest politics in Kashmir.
But the larger issue extends beyond individual assessments of Kaul.
The BJP’s next organisational leadership will inherit an organisation that has developed over 12 years and will now have to take it into its next phase. That means understanding the existing cadre, identifying emerging leaders, managing competing expectations and ensuring that the party’s Kashmir strategy remains connected to realities outside the established political circles.
Several Valley leaders believe the new leadership should therefore make direct grassroots engagement its starting point. They want the leadership to travel beyond Srinagar, meet district-level workers, listen to younger party functionaries and understand the political environment in which the BJP is attempting to expand.
Their message is essentially that Kashmir cannot be approached solely as an organisational assignment.
It has to be understood as a distinct political environment.
This is where Kaul’s 12-year experience assumes significance. His familiarity with the Valley allowed him to operate within its political complexities without necessarily accepting every local assessment put before him. His supporters say he could listen to a leader, understand the argument, challenge it where necessary and still maintain the organisational relationship.
That balance may be one of the more difficult elements for the new leadership to reproduce.
Kaul, meanwhile, is not disappearing from the wider organisational landscape. His return to the RSS means his experience remains within the broader Sangh structure. His departure from the BJP’s organisational post is therefore a change of responsibility rather than a complete withdrawal from organisational work.
For the BJP, however, the immediate task is clear: convert the transition into organisational continuity without losing its Kashmir connect.
The party will have to ensure that local leaders do not feel detached from the decision-making structure, that grassroots feedback reaches the leadership without excessive filtering and that new organisational faces develop their own understanding of the Valley.
The success of the transition will ultimately be measured not by how smoothly one office changes hands, but by how effectively the BJP maintains its organisational reach and political understanding across Kashmir.
Kaul’s chapter may have ended. The larger challenge for the BJP is to ensure that the Kashmir chapter continues to move forward with an organisation that listens, learns and remains connected to the ground.
