Mahesh Chander Sudan
We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, have been made to live with an unusually uncertain state of affairs since adoption of Reorganization Act 2019 for J&K that led to division of erstwhile state into two Union Territories primarily to exercise unified control over decades old terrorism for establishing peaceful living across valley and Jammu regions. This out of box solution remains paradoxical even today as the ground situation speaks louder than preferred claims. Territorial division of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two self-reliant administrative units could hardly change the ground reality to convince local people.
As it stands that the historical change was effected as a surprise and not as an option extended through established democratic process for public acceptance. This unique and unilateral approach of the Union Dispensation would have received cordial public acceptance provided it had been implemented in an organized public friendly way. It apparently poses a state of dilemma for people to differentiate between good and bad, more so in a situation when every now and then we hear restoration of stripped statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
It is quite painful to remain a tossing toy in the hands of politicians who tactfully mould public mandate in their favour by exploiting their ignorance. This becomes more critical when the party in power also resorts to the same trick. Our Prime Minister and Home Minister have conveyed in various forums including Parliament of India that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be restored at an appropriate time.
We the people of Jammu and Kashmir sincerely hold on to this commitment and are sure that this will be honored sooner or later. This actually provides a fertile ground for all other local political entities to raise this issue again and again for enhancing their presence and strengthening their political platform. Paradoxically, this state of dilemma lays uncertainty in the mind of people and resultantly creates a sense of loss or political vacuum. At the same time, poor people find themselves politically deceived and start questioning their own identity as bonafide citizens of the Indian Union. Repeated calls for restoration of statehood by local political entities like Apni Party, National Conference, PDP and other smaller groups intensifies the magnitude of the issue by pushing local people into utter political alienation that would prove inimical to interactive democratic process in the long run. A deeply muted silence emerging out of prevailing political inactivation conveys prospective delay in holding electoral process less due to procedural aspects than creating favorable fertile environment for party in power.
Recently held DDC elections despite all dividends to ruling party could hardly gain firm ground for them to speed up holding legislative elections in the near future. Local voters have not accepted BJP leadership of the Union Territory and ignored high profile former ministers as DDC candidates. It is also an established fact that BJP emerged largest single party mainly due to traditional support from Jammu province. The ground situation indicates for complete overhaul of the party leadership and to induct new faces to regain lost public faith.
Recently, member of Rajya Sabha representing J&K, Gulam Nabi Azad has once again highlighted the issue of statehood to JKUT and urgency of holding Legislative elections on priority. Such frequent reminders raised by various political entities though intended to achieve political dividend questions the futility of converting erstwhile state into union territory and causing avoidable damage to state welfare at large.
The state of J&K (now UT) like other federations of the Indian Union is expected to be governed by a democratically elected Government and not through an alternate arrangement provided in constitution of India for such a long time. Absence of elected Government in a Republican set up like ours suspends constitutional right of a voter besides allowing limited governance of the state that conceptually hurts the welfare of a state.
In the given scenario, it is felt that central ruling dispensation should clearly define their long term perspective for the JKUT and come absolutely clear on the issue of restoration of statehood to J&K primarily to check rumor mongers and instill a sense of confidence amongst citizens. Holding of Legislative Assembly elections without any further delay would enable us to exercise our right to vote and save us from being used as political bait every now and then, may be at a cost of no political dividend to the ruling political party. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
The author is WgCdr (Retd)
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