Politics is often judged through elections, victories, ministerial positions and public visibility, but behind every successful political organisation are individuals whose contributions are measured differently. They build structures, discover workers, identify emerging leaders and prepare organisations for political challenges that may lie years ahead. Sh. Ashok Koul belongs to this category of political organisers. After a long tenure as BJP General Secretary (Organisation) in Jammu and Kashmir, he has relinquished that responsibility, concluding an important phase of his organisational journey.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Sh. Ashok Koul’s political functioning has been that he was always on the move. For him, organisation was not something to be managed merely from party headquarters. Districts, constituencies, Mandals and booths constituted the real political field. His frequent interactions with grassroots workers reflected a simple organisational philosophy: political strength has to be created from below and maintained through continuous contact with the people who sustain the organisation.
His tenure coincided with BJP’s emergence as a much larger political force in Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu had traditionally provided the party with its principal electoral strength, but developing a wider footprint required organisational work in politically difficult areas as well. This meant identifying workers, developing local leadership and establishing structures even where immediate electoral rewards appeared distant. Sh. Ashok Koul remained closely associated with this process.
Kashmir presented the more difficult part of this exercise. It could not simply be approached as an electoral destination during election time. An organisation had to be patiently developed on the ground. Sh. Ashok Koul’s engagements in areas ranging from Pulwama to remote Gurez reflected this approach. His method was essentially grassroots-oriented: travel to the constituency, interact with workers, examine organisational weaknesses and strengthen booth-level structures.
There was considerable political realism in such an approach. Organisational presence and electoral victory are not synonymous. BJP has developed a greater political presence in Kashmir, although that has not yet translated proportionately into Assembly seats. Political presence has to develop into social acceptability before substantial electoral conversion can take place. An organisation-builder therefore necessarily works on a longer political timeline than a candidate preparing for the next election.
Sh. Ashok Koul appeared to understand the distinction between political cultivation and political harvesting. Elections harvest what organisations cultivate over years and sometimes decades. Where the party was already strong, organisational consolidation remained important; where it was weaker, patient groundwork was required. Such work seldom attracts the visibility associated with electoral campaigns, but it provides the organisational foundation upon which campaigns are ultimately fought.
His working style also reflected an understanding of the extraordinary diversity of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu plains cannot simply be equated with the Doda region; Poonch-Rajouri has distinctive social and political characteristics; and Kashmir itself contains considerable local variation. Gurez is different from Pulwama just as Doda is different from Jammu city. A political organisation operating across such diversity cannot rely upon one formula imposed from above. Local concerns, social equations and locally acceptable leadership have to remain central to organisational planning.
Another important feature of Sh. Ashok Koul’s functioning was his emphasis on the ordinary worker. Political parties inevitably develop prominent public faces, but their durability depends upon thousands of workers who may never contest an election or appear on television. His emphasis on booth organisation and direct public contact placed the grassroots worker at the centre of the organisational structure. A strong leadership can provide direction, but it is ultimately the worker who carries that direction to the electorate.
The period of Sh. Ashok Koul’s organisational responsibility also coincided with some of the most consequential years in the political history of Jammu and Kashmir. BJP participated for the first time in government in the erstwhile State through its coalition with the PDP beginning in 2015 and subsequently won 29 seats in the 2024 Assembly elections. These developments obviously cannot be attributed to any single individual. Electoral outcomes are shaped by national leadership, political circumstances, candidates, workers and ultimately the voters themselves. Nevertheless, organisational machinery forms an indispensable part of electoral politics, and Sh. Ashok Koul occupied a central organisational position throughout this period.
An organisation man also has to remain away from the temptation of measuring every political effort through immediate personal advancement. Sh. Ashok Koul’s public role was largely organisational rather than electoral. His political importance came from working with the structure—coordinating workers, understanding local equations and maintaining communication between different levels of the party. This behind-the-scenes character of organisational politics is often less visible than public leadership, but it can be equally consequential.
The real test of an organisation-builder comes when formal responsibility changes hands. Political personalities move from one responsibility to another, but organisations have to continue functioning. If booth structures remain active, workers stay connected, younger leaders emerge and institutional discipline survives, the organisation becomes larger than the individual who helped build it. That continuity is among the most significant legacies an organisational leader can leave behind.
Looking to the long organisational experience and contribution of Sh. Ashok Koul to BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, relinquishing one responsibility need not mean the conclusion of his active political contribution. His accumulated understanding of grassroots organisation, regional complexities, social equations and party functioning represents a considerable reservoir of experience. It would therefore be natural for party workers and political observers to watch whether this experience is utilised in another significant and productive assignment in the future. The nature of any such responsibility would, of course, remain a matter for the party leadership to determine.
Sh. Ashok Koul’s political journey can ultimately be understood through organisational persistence rather than personal electoral ambition. His strength lay in remaining connected with the ground, travelling extensively, understanding workers and recognising that political organisations cannot remain static. Circumstances change, generations change and voter expectations change; an organisation that does not continuously adapt eventually loses touch with society.
That perhaps best explains the indomitable spirit behind his political acumen. For Sh. Ashok Koul, there was always another worker to encourage, another organisational weakness to address and another political challenge to understand. Politics was not merely about the next election; it was about preparing the organisation for the years beyond it. One organisational chapter may have concluded, but the experience accumulated over those years remains available for whatever responsibility the future may bring.
(The author is the chief spokesperson of the BJP, J&K UT)
