Tuesday 30 December 2014

Now seize the opportunity of successful JK elections to sideline separatists, Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

Now seize the opportunity of successful JK elections to sideline separatists, Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

Many of Kashmir’s politicians and intellectuals — who for years maintained that India could never hold a credible democratic exercise in the Valley — are now active on two fronts. Some have contested assembly elections. Others are telling the world that no elections (even when turnout is 70-80%) can substitute for a plebiscite. The latter may be right for the sake of a courtroom argument but the way they seek to discredit this unprecedented dance of democracy perhaps betrays their level of frustration and a sense of defeat.
A strong separatist sentiment coupled with some fear of the gun was at work in eight of the 46 segments in Kashmir. Elsewhere there were scenes as from a village fair, for the first time after 1977.
The argument of ‘sadak, bijli, pani’ was first introduced by agents of the state who wanted people’s participation in 2008 assembly elections, in the aftermath of a religious and regional divide. It provided an excuse of convenience to over 1.75 million Kashmiris who turned up voluntarily, asserting invariably that ‘resolution of day to day problems’ was a reality and compulsion. Politics, they asserted, was an ‘exclusive domain’ of the separatists. Even Hurriyat discovered convenience in this interpretation.
With thicker flocks thronging the polling stations after six years, the old boycott brigade began claiming that it was the Kashmiris’ collective urge to defeat BJP and thus prevent it from ‘grabbing power’ with the advantage of the migrants’ vote. It was hardly credible. Remarkably, even the 13 segments where BJP didn’t contest witnessed heavy turnout. Who were the voters going to defeat?
Why did the nationally sinking Congress bag four seats, including Hurriyat hardliner Syed Geelani’s Sopore? More significantly, despite losing both of its bastions of Dooru and Kokernag, Congress conquered PDP’s traditional strongholds of Shangas and Homeshalibug. Would Congress, rather than PDP and NC, benefit from an ‘anti-BJP wave’?
Both elections this year have to a large extent restored the credibility of the Indian democratic processes after 1977, when Sheikh Abdullah’s NC decimated the countrywide ‘Janata wave’.
The 2014 elections are arguably the first when central intelligence and security agencies stood aloof. The Valley noticed keenly that Congress and NC lost all their six Lok Sabha seats when they were in power both at the Centre and in the state. BJP’s failure to win a single assembly seat in the Valley and an embarrassing defeat of its ‘Mission 44 plus’ have shut up those mouthing scepticism and cynicism.
Elections over, only a stable, credible and all-inclusive government with due representation to Kashmiri and Dogra heartlands can take this rare achievement to its logical conclusion. Equally important would be a strong and credible opposition that ceases to survive on posture politics, perpetuation of pseudo-separatist sentiment and regional and communal polarisation, and instead contributes positively to the invaluable mandate the people of J&K have given to the 12th legislative assembly.



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