There would be no by-poll for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. “Reasons are known to everybody, the situation isn’t favorable there”, admits an official. Therefore, for three years the constituency is to remain unrepresented in the lower house of parliament. It is indeed extremely difficult now to conduct elections anywhere in Kashmir. The situation is particularly worrisome in south Kashmir. During the last assembly elections people would throng to garland us, offer sweets and milk. There was hope for a better future. But now they despise us the most. There are stones instead of sweets. It was the Peoples Democratic Party that won majority of seats from south. Their main election slogan was to keep right-wing BJP at bay. But people felt betrayed once the same PDP formed government with the Modi-led BJP. It created a political vacuum in the valley, resulted in alienation and antipathy towards mainstream politics.
The two parties formed an “Agenda of Alliance” to guide their political trajectory. It promised status-quo on “special status” and resumption of talks with Hurriyat and Pakistan besides promising a review of draconian laws like AFSPA. But only the “agenda” of BJP is working out, not of the Alliance. Article 370 and 35-A are been contested in the higher judiciary by organisations closely affiliated with BJP and RSS. While the Muslims of Kashmir were always at the receiving end, the other marginalised groups like Gujjars and Bakarwals, considered to be pro-India, are now facing the heat. In the rest of India the Forest Rights Act 2006 has been implemented but it is facing roadblocks in J&K. The act concerns the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources. Here in our state BJP is against its implementation. For the first time BJP invokes Article 370 and its former Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh told NDTV that the law is not in the interest of the state: “Special status has saved our forests; otherwise they would have been finished long ago. If something good is coming from the country, we have a right to implement it in the state. But it’s something that doesn’t suit us, can ruin this state.” The said minister has been threatening the nomads of Jammu for the repeat of 1947 (massacre of Muslims) if they persist with their demands. BJP’s opposition to the act is purely on communal lines because majority of nomads happen to be Muslims. The rape and murder of an eight year old girl in Kathua was designed to scare the nomads out of the forests.
The Kathua incident was shamefully given a communal colour by the BJP. Two of its former ministers participated in a rally organised by Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the rapists. Even few people affiliated with the Congress party also played a role in vitiating communal harmony in Jammu. National Conference has time and again warned against the communal agenda of BJP & RSS. Our party leadership and NC provincial president (Jammu) Mr. Devender Singh Rana underlined the well-planned conspiracy by the coalition partners (PDP & BJP) to divide the people and make them fight against each other to divert their attention from governance failures. Mr. Rana also hit out at Pradesh Congress leaders for “hobnobbing with Bharatya Janata Party to disintegrate and trifurcate Jammu and Kashmir.” He urged the state and the central government to ensure that the ‘bouquet’ of Jammu and Kashmir remains intact. But the BJP instead blamed Mr. Rana for portraying Jammu as a communal region. The bigger worry is that the forces of division of the state have been encouraged since the PDP-BJP combine came to power. The alliance, instead of connecting the regions, has created a political vacuum where none speaks for all the three regions of the state.
The PDP must do a serious introspection. It must stick to the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, pitch for revocation of AFSPA, return of power projects, rights to forest dwelling communities, ensure justice in the Kathua case, or it should part ways for the sake of survival of mainstream politics in the valley. Holding elections in Kashmir is a distant dream if this opportunistic alliance continues in power for few more years.
Dr. Bashir Ahmad Veeri is a former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council. Views are personal