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.
No comments:
Post a Comment