Wg Cdr Mahesh Chander Sudan
We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, have been sailing through uncertain political weather subsequent to sudden collapse of unholy alliance between PDP and BJP in the year 2018. The erstwhile state of J&K continued to remain under alternate arrangement of Governor Rule till its conversion to Union Territory with sliced territorial jurisdiction paving way for formation of Union territory of Ladakh on 31 Oct 2019. Thereafter, the newly formed JKUT got Lieutenant Governor along with limited team of advisors to govern JKUT as an alternate arrangement till it is feasible administratively to delimit the authorized constituencies for holding electoral process to form democratically elected popular government. This shift of governance from elected government temporarily to alternate arrangement resulted in suspension of political activities for quite some time due to absence of main stream political leaders who were held under house arrest or detention to enable smooth conversion of erstwhile state of J&K into two Union Territories and settle down with new format of administration and in disguise to create favourable political field for ruling dispensation to extract dividend in future. This long drawn disconnects between people of JKUT and local leadership has shattered their age old bond and resultantly hurt the credibility of all politicians across the political spectrum. Local leadership may regain it with extra efforts but the credibility of local politicians of BJP who were largely mandated to govern during last election especially in Jammu Province may not find it easy to secure public faith again. The political spectrum of the JKUT hence is weakened substantially both in terms of cadre and credibility across the length and breadth of the Union Territory.
It may be appropriate to mention that circumstances emerging out of local and external pressure dictated Union Government to reactivate politics in the JKUT by holding all party meet and urge local political entities to realign their involvement in early completion of delimitation exercise to pave way for electoral process. No doubt, the central ruling dispensation of NDA has designedly shifted the onus of responsibility to local leadership for any unjustifiable delay in completion of delimitation besides answering various stake holders and furthering their political agenda for regaining public mandate. The political dynamics of newly formed UT has recently been infected with visible concern of discrimination especially in Jammu province, apparently devised to spread sense of mistrust amongst people of two provinces and ultimately to garner short term benefit of electoral mandate. It is seen that none of the local political entities have any answer for long drawn absence of popular government formed democratically, inadequate governance through temporary alternate arrangement, transformation of erstwhile state of J&K with territorial division into two segments and prevailing uncertainty about the status of JK especially so as the PM and HM have time and again assured restoration of statehood to newly created territory of JK that consequently affected life of ordinary citizens adversely. Prominent Political parties on the political landscape of J&K have either been sliced down in terms of cadre and capacity to weaken their on ground contact with people that has ultimately raised trust deficit and helplessness especially during pandemic. The mood of the people therefore remains uncertain and unpredictable and the resultant vacuum strongly calls for some moderation of ideology in the form of new political options.
At this critical juncture, when the people of JK have gone through unprecedented abrogation of special status followed by demotion of erstwhile state, it clearly outlines that the common man on street questions local leadership and finds it difficult to bear with altered administrative dispensation provided through limited set up of LG and his team of advisors for such a long time. Delay in restoration of right to franchise as enshrined in the supreme law of land is causing substantial damage in terms of trust deficit in the system and dependence on local leadership. It ultimately provides window for other political entities to prevail. One such addition in the recent times is Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party founded in March 2020 byAltaf Bukhari to promote Regionalism, Developmentalism and Secularism. JKAP could successfully spread her policy platform to stand against dynastic politics of valley centric PDP, NC and Indian National Congress. Despite high profile composition of the party, it has to build its image and shed tag of team II for BJP not only in valley but across the union territory to participate substantially in the forthcoming elections as a regional force with larger public acceptance.
Another claimant in this regard apparently will be AamAdmi Party (AAP) as it is noticed in the recent past that around nine years old political entity ruling state of Delhi for third term has started spreading her ideologies in the masses across union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The party styles itself as an alternative to the mainstream BhartiyaJanta Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress.
There are few other political entities that have regional appeal and are struggling to emerge on political landscape in both the provinces. The people of Jammu and Kashmir may find more colorful political landscape offering public friendly alternates for commoners on street in the times to come. The emerging political scenario would demand diligence, earnestness and consciousness in electing representatives to minimize any chance for political opportunists to capture power to rule by twisting mandate like PDP+BJP of 2014 that laid road for suspension of democratic right for people to elect popular government in the erstwhile state (now UT) of Jammu and Kashmir so long. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
The author is WgCdr (Retd)