The show must go on

National Conference (NC) vice-president and former chiefminister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, has once again questioned theformation of new political parties only in Kashmir. He has claimed that in past15-days, six political parties have been formed in the Valley.

He has raised a valid point i.e., why these parties arebeing formed in Kashmir only. No new political parties have either come up inJammu or in Ladakh. “I am not against the people joining politics or formingtheir parties. I am nobody to stop them from coming forward but I want to askwhy such activities take place in Kashmir only?” Omar has asked.

   

It’s not for the first time that new parties have appearedon the political arena of Kashmir ahead of any elections. It has been happeningfor the past many decades.

During its “hey days” NC never paid any attention towardsthese small parties as the “grand old party” of Jammu and Kashmir knew it verywell that these parties won’t affect NC’s performance. Now times have changed,even a single vote matters. Fifteen political parties, which Omar has pointedout, would disappear soon after elections end. These may appear again whenanother poll season arrives.

Concern of the former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministercannot be just dismissed as a political gimmick. Everyone knows that pollingpercentage in Kashmir has not remained constant. Boycott factor has alwayshaunted the mainstream politicians in the Valley and new parties dividing thevotes could turn the results upside down.

There is no harm in new faces joining the politics but suchpeople who just appear during poll season and disappear after the elections endto be discouraged. This trend really hurts the genuine politicians.

Another vital issue which Omar Abdullah has raised is why thesenew parties only appear in Kashmir. History stands testimony to the fact thatsince 1947 New Delhi has not allowed any strong leader to come up as the strongrepresentative of people of Kashmir. It appears that Delhi doesn’t want anyoneto become taller than his size that’s why whosoever tries to cross the”redline” is either shown the door or his/her wings are clipped. 

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and president of Peoples Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti, who went against the tide and entered into an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party, is facing a tough time due to BJP leaving her party in the midst by pulling out from the PDP led government in J&K in June 2018.

The BJP accused her of being “soft” towards separatists and being a threat to “national interests.” Mehbooba as a chief minister of J&K took few decisions which BJP didn’t like and when it realised that it cannot allow Mehbooba to take liberties they left her in lurch.

Mehbooba is not the only leader, who has been ditched by anational party. If one goes through the history there are many such instanceswhere Kashmiri leaders have had to face embarrassment for allying with NewDelhi. Only parties have changed, earlier it used to be Congress, now it’s BJP.Policy has remained unchanged.

Forthcoming Lok Sabha elections are crucial for National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and Peoples Conference as these polls would set the stage for Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

In fact these elections are a semifinal before the final. When Parliamentary polls were held in Kashmir in 2014, PDP won all the three Lok Sabha seats in the Valley and subsequently went on to win 28 Assembly constituencies. It fell short of reaching the 44 seat mark to form the government on its own but somehow managed to stitch an alliance with BJP and ruled J&K for nearly three and a half years.

The NC vice-president Omar Abdullah is very well aware about the fact that his party has to perform in the Parliamentary polls   if it wants to regain power in the state.

He knows that “sponsored” candidates and small parties can help his political opponents by dividing the NC vote and if the voter turnout remains low his party could end up on the losing side.

That’s why he is trying to drive home a point that new parties should be kept at bay. But it seems that people sitting in New Delhi are in no mood to listen to Omar Abdullah and they want to handle the Kashmir politics in their own way. They are least bothered about the objections being raised by the genuine politicians. Their only concern it appears is that the show must go on.

(Javaid Malik is Senior Editor Greater Kashmir)

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