The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, returning to power with athumping majority has proved it beyond doubt that hard work pays. During hisfirst term the Prime Minister Modi worked relentlessly to put the country onthe path of development and the people by reposing their faith in him againhave acknowledged his hard work and dedication.
Prime Minister leading BJP to empathic win should serve asan eye opener for the Kashmiri leaders and politicians, who during all theseyears after getting power have misused the same against their own people.Kashmiris during the past seventy years have given numerous chances to theirleaders by voting for them and sending to the Assembly and Parliament but theseleaders have not delivered. These leaders should ask themselves why theycouldn’t deliver despite getting mandate from their people. Why these leaderseven after winning the elections always looked towards the Centre? Why theyfailed to utilize the resources of their own state? Why they couldn’t turn theyouth into entrepreneurs and kept them dependent on government jobs only? Thereare many whys which politicians and leaders have to answer to put the recordsstraight.
Mainstream politicians could have done a lot for Kashmir hadthey focused on governance and other issues confronting the common man. It’sunfortunate that these leaders despite being aware about the fact that theycannot address the external dimensions of the Kashmir problem kept onmisleading the people. The Peoples Democratic Party losing all the threeparliamentary seats in Kashmir has vindicated the people who used to advice theparty leadership not to show dreams to people. National Conference is happythat it has swept the Parliamentary polls. The NC leaders are celebrating theirvictory but they are ignoring a big fact that polling percentage in south andcentral Kashmir was dismal as people just stayed away from the electoralprocess. No doubt NC candidates have won but one cannot ignore the fact thatonly limited number of people participated in these elections.
The NC has assured the people that its MPs would ensure thatthey would safeguard the Article 35A and Article 370 in the Parliament. Itseems that someone needs to tell them that there are more than 540 MPs in theLok Sabha and when they decide to scrap these Articles, three MPs won’t be eventold what the Parliament wants to do. It’s unfortunate that our leaders makesuch promises about such things which don’t even fall in their domain.
During the past seventy years NC has ruled J&K for mostof the time, PDP came to fore only after 1999 but both the parties had onething in common that during their tenures they empowered their own kith and kinand the party workers. They had nothing to offer to a common man. Their indifferent attitude has pushed thecommon man to an edge and people not participating in the recently heldParliamentary polls has proved it beyond doubt that masses have lost faith inthe democratic process.
On the other hand separatist leaders, who claim to representthe aspirations of common Kashmiris, too have failed to deliver. These leaderson many occasions have spurned the talks offer forwarded by the Government ofIndia. They have always looked towards Islamabad without bothering about theplight of their own people. They have been maintaining that no talks can beheld with New Delhi without involving Pakistan. Had these leaders paid someheed towards the sufferings of their people they would have accepted the talksoffer and tried to find a way out through negotiations. Had these leaders triedengaging with New Delhi, situation in Kashmir would not have turned from bad toworse. Whenever these leaders got a chance to lead from the front they couldn’tgo beyond calling for shutdowns and protests. They caged their own peoplewithin their homes.
When 2010 unrest was at its peak in the Valley, entirepolitical leadership of the country knocked at the doors of the separatistleaders and tried its best to persuade them for talks. They (separatists) justturned their back towards them. Similarly in 2016 they got another chance butnone of the leaders came forward to break the ice.
The indifferent attitude of Kashmiri leaders has made peoplebelieve that no one can lead them and today they (common masses) stand disillusionedand disinterested. Popularity of Kashmiri leaders is declining with eachpassing day and they no one to blame except themselves.
(The writer is a Former Journalist and member of JK YouthAlliance)