Ever since the PDP-BJP coalition fell apart after an acrimonious and public spat between the leaders of the two parties, and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was brought under the Governor’s rule, the ruling party at the centre has used every opportunity and every platform to target the regional “dynastic” parties like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party for ruining and depriving the much needed fruits of development and prosperity to the state. By BJP’s logic, it seems if NC and PDP didn’t exist, there would have been no problem in the state. Forget the fact that the two parties have lost hundreds of their workers and leaders to the senseless violence unfolding on the streets of Kashmir over the past three decades in order to uphold the country’s flag and the country’s constitution in the state. With the Lok Sabha election fever gripping the country, the attack on the PDP and NC has only intensified. Led by none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP chief Amit Shah, the two regional parties have been projected as the devils in the cage. In a number of election rallies and interviews with TV channels and newspapers, the top two leaders of the Hindu rightwing party have used choicest of adjectives to denigrate the “dynastic rule” of the two parties, accusing them of speaking in one language while in the state while resorting to another while in New Delhi. This is only partly true as every state government in Jammu and Kashmir since the time of the accession has been overtly and covertly backed by the Centre. If NC and PDP are responsible for underdevelopment of J&K, successive governments at the Centre have to share the blame equally. The narrative peddled by the BJP is flawed at so many levels. If NC and PDP are dynastic parties, so is the Peoples Conference headed by Sajad Gani Lone who is in politics by virtue of his father Late Abdul Gani Lone. It is no secret that the BJP has been covertly supporting Lone’s party to create an ‘alternative political forces’ in Jammu and Kashmir. It is also true that the BJP has never got the kind of mandate that it did in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the party is hoping to make a comeback at the centre. It is now looking for new allies in J&K but the narrative it has adopted is similar to selling old wine in new bottle.