Mir Iqbal
Srinagar, Apr 30:Unhappy with the Government for what they called false promises and negligence, the minority community today mostly stayed away from polls to “teach selfish politicians a lesson”.
Sikhs who have a significant population in areas like Alluchibagh, Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar and some Pandit families of Sheikhpora and Lagam in district Budgam didn’t exercise their franchise.
“We have decided to boycott elections this time so that these politicians can come to know our worth,” a group of young Sikhs told Excelsior in Alluchibagh.
They said braving all challenges the Government has neglected them time and again which has hurt their sentiments. “We faced a lot of challenges for last many years and the same leaders were laughing over our helplessness,” said Jagmeet Singh Bali, a resident of Solina.
“I voted to save my country from further devastation at the hands of corrupt and selfish politicians and their associates,” Janak Singh, 75, said, after leaving from polling station number 137-B Shalpora where out of 229 only 9 Sikhs cast their vote.
Singh said: “Government has failed to meet our aspiration, which is visible as young Sikh population doesn’t prefer to stay here because of lesser preferences to them at every sphere.”
Hamat Singh, 70, poll agent for National Conference at polling station 39-A in Mehjoor Nagar, said there are some 1400 Sikh votes in Mehjoor Nagar area, “but only some hundred members came here to cast their votes, others preferred to stay away.”
The Sikh youth have some other grievances with the Government, saying they are unemployed with no support from Government. “These leaders are treating us as second class citizens, with no welfare scheme for our community,” they said.
Although few of the elderly Sikhs exercised their franchise, yet the young said that they have pinned no hope on this election and will go with the majority community.
Satbir Singh Sodhi, 23, had different view point for staying away from polls in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. “We are with the majority community here and like to respect their sentiments. We have to live with them. They stayed away from polls, so did we.”
They also said they would never cast their votes in favour of those responsible for 1984 Sikh riots in Punjab. The Sikhs also said that the Government had played “bad” politics on the elections of Jammu and Kashmir Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, which was why they didn’t vote.
While boycotting the polls, Kashmiri Pandits putting up in a transit camp at Sheikhpora, Budgam and Lalgam village in Budgam said none of the politicians bothered to visit them even during election time, so they decided not to vote.
“No politician visited us during elections and they even stopped thinking about our plight, so why should we vote for any party or candidate,” said Manohar Lalgami, a local resident of Lalgam. He said that Pandits even don’t know where their polling booth is.
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