By Farooq Wani
Internal politics in J&K is again at the crossroads of uncertainty, bordering on extinction and pariahdom with well-known local personalities and political parties virtually tearing each other apart by indulging in bluff and bluster at a time when they should be displaying sagacity.
A tumultuous turn of events is being witnessed in the Kashmir Valley since the March 8 collapse of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD). Leaders of the two main political parties- the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) have been indulging in a free-for-all and trading charges following the NC’s decision not to concede the coveted Anantnag- Rajouri Lok Sabha seat to the PDP on the premise of the latter’s pathetic performance in the last general elections, finishing third.
National Conference Vice -President and former state chief minister Omar Abdullah has gone a step further by labelling PDP as non-credible as well as untrustworthy and accusing it of facilitating the BJP’s entrance to power in the erstwhile state (now Union Territory) of J&K. Abdullah stated that NC will contest all three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Kashmir Valley in the coming general elections, while offering two seats in Jammu region to the Indian National Congress (INC) and said that the Ladakh seat will have a consensus candidate of the NC and Congress. J&K has five Lok Sabha seats, including two from the Jammu region, two in the Kashmir Valley and one in Ladakh.
PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has reacted as expected, accusing the NC of reducing PAGD to a “joke”. For those who are unaware, the PAGD is an alliance of five political parties that have been seeking the restoration of special status for Jammu and Kashmir which was revoked by an Act of Parliament in October 2019. Mufti continues to trumpet that the PAGD was a “unique alliance”, whose breakdown is shattering both for the local political leadership and for Kashmiris.
Both the NC and the PDP independently maintain that they are still a part of the opposition INDIA bloc. Will Rahul Gandhi come forward to soothe frayed nerves and to get them together again is the moot question. However, given the fire that is continuously stoking the “unity break,” the likelihood of this happening seems unlikely at this point of time.
Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, has already drawn parallels between the recent election controversy in Pakistan and the tumultuous aftermath of the 1987 elections in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Using X, she stirred a hornet’s nest by tweeting, “Sad to see victory snatched from @ImranKhanPTI & elections rigged in Pakistan. For the people of Kashmir, it’s reminiscent of the 1987 election flawed by mass electoral fraud. Uncanny similarities between the crackdown on Jamaat leaders then & PTI now.”
“People of J&K continue paying a price with their lives because of the violence triggered by rigged 1987 elections. Pak army should take a leaf from our blood-soaked history to understand the consequences of manipulating popular mandate,” she added.
In effect, hinting that history is likely to be repeating itself in 2024, more than three and a half decades after NC (then led by Dr Farooq Abdullah), allegedly rigged elections and ushered in a period of wanton violence that claimed tens of hundreds of Kashmiri lives.
We are again witnessing a possible repeat of political developments that took place in the last week of December 2022, wherein local political parties were continuously and confusingly course correcting themselves and their respective agendas in anticipation of proposed assembly polls. Then, the Centre argued before the courts that it needed more time to complete the delimitation of assembly seats. That being achieved in May 2023 has been followed by a Supreme Court directive that assembly elections must be held latest by September 2024. There is talk, however, that the Centre may hold these assembly polls in June, weeks after Prime Minister Modi presumably enters a third consecutive five-year term in office.
The efforts of local politicians towards realising their intent of greater internal autonomy through the PAGD looks to have receded as its erstwhile constituents, NC, PDP, PC and other smaller parties, are still trying to make sense of current developments and attempting to come to grips with emerging equations, varying currents and counter currents.
The changes that have taken place in the UT since 2019 were undreamt before and the post Article 370 abrogation scenario is likely to break the status quo of being over-obsessed by the aura of politicians and being prisoners of emotional attachment with political parties. It may well be that the people of Kashmir would rather cast their votes on their understanding of what has been delivered as promised by the BJP-led Centre and UT administration.
Though certain political parties in J&K wax eloquent on their unconditional commitment to restore Articles 370 & 35-A, they definitely know that this poll promise isn’t going to do much in so far as vote catching is concerned.
The political pot in J&K is boiling over. The BJP maintains that PAGD is nothing more than a “day dreamer’s group” that has been exploiting the people of J&K through a bundle of lies. Here the proverb, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating” comes to mind because the real value of something can only be judged from practical experience or results, and not from appearances or theories.
Time and again Kashmir’s well-entrenched politicians have shown that they have nothing meaningful to offer to the people of J&K and can only play with public emotions and sentiments. Both the NC and PDP have had their chances to rule the erstwhile state of J&K between 1987 and 2019, but the fact is both have hardly done anything to deliver on basics to the people who had placed their faith in them and allowed them to represent them in the state assembly and in the Indian Parliament.
The people of J&K will hence be extremely watchful and are unlikely to be entrapped by the sweet talk and tall promises of local, self-serving politicians.
The author is Editor Brighter Kashmir, Author, TV commentator, political analyst and columnist. Email: farooqwani61@yahoo.co.in
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