Puran Chand Sharma
It is heartening to note that after a lot of political higgling – haggling, Election Commission of India has decided to conduct Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases on 18 Sept, 25 Sept and 1st Oct, 2024.
In this article, author would discuss about the prevalent scenario and significance of participation in political process in J&K which still continues to be a Union Territory with Legislature after removal of Art.370 and 35-A. Since then J&K is reeling under Lieutenant Governor’s rule. During the course of LG rule, there has been tremendous infrastructural development in both the regions of JKUT which is conspicuously visible. Kashmir valley has remained by and large peaceful sans an iota of discontentment plus the public participation in all Govt schemes and programmes increased manifold. Having said this, we now proceed ahead and talk about the general experience and information emanating from public interaction comprising all segments of society, it is observed that administrative set up during the LG rule is such that authority is vested with the concerned bureaucrats , political workers slip into passive mode, needy people do not have easy access to bureaucrats and their routine important works get blocked resulting into overall inertia which generates undesirable anti incumbency factor. Resultantly problems of common masses and other related issues remain unresolved. Despite all this, people in J&KUT have welcomed the Govt’s decision to hold the elections.
Challenges
Now when the polls have been announced in J&K, let us have a look at the challenges confronting the JKUT.
JKUT with 90 seats is all set to go to polls as per the fixed schedule after a gap of 10 years. It is also being felt that none of the political party is poised to achieve the majority mark of 46 seats on account of population imbalance in the two regions. Natural anti incumbency factor also crops up owing to prolonged LG rule wherein the bureaucracy assumed predominantly active role and party leaders relapsed into old ruts of passivity.
Restoration of Statehood: This would be a big challenge to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir immediately after the new Government is formed , their counterparts in the opposition would start clamouring for reversal from UT to State. However, it appears that BJP being ruling party at the centre supported by coalition partners shall not succumb to this unreasonable demand of Kashmir centric parties as the Ministry of Home Affairs have recently amended J&K’S Transaction of Business rules to enhance LG’S powers to have ultimate say in all matters related to police, public order, transfers and postings. In the thought process of BJP it is being reckoned as win-win situation in the sense that whether it emerges as Ruling party or opposition party , the scenario would frequently witness undesirable wrangling between LG vs. New Govt. of JKUT with Legislature. It is presumed that fragile alliances built on political compulsions would be apt to crumble like house of cards . Therefore, time ahead is very challenging for all political parties of UT.
Terrorism: J&K has witnessed a prolonged stint of trans border terrorism but subsequent to removal of Article 370 and 35-A and the reorganization of state into JKUT plus Ladakh UT, the terrorist activities were seen to be at the lowest ebb and paddlers of terrorism perhaps slipped into hibernation but not fully decimated. But in the recent past we observed that terrorist strikes have exponentially increased in Jammu region and incidents have also occurred in Kashmir valley and timing coincides with that of electoral exercise being initiated in JKUT. This is not a good augury for peace and prosperity in sensitive territory, as such electing a stable, responsible and capable of deliverance Government would be a formidable challenge for the eligible voters of Jammu and Kashmir.
Quality of Candidates: The political players and the parties are confronted with a huge challenge of selecting the right kind of candidates who have the required political acumen, service oriented bent of mind, possess clean public image and are blessed with leader like qualities. Candidates tainted and notorious for moral turpitude must be firmly discarded. Some kind of mismanagement, nepotism and choosing undeserving candidate is certainly happening which is a cause for concern, resentment and further goading people into lodging vociferous protests. Better it is taken care of on war footing.
Burgeoning unemployment and simmering discontentment amongst the eligible youth hankering for jobs or work for earning their livelihood is also the towering challenge for the ruling party in the offing.
From the cursory look at the manifesto of Kashmir centric parties NC and PDP we find that both NC and PDP have pledged to reverse the laws introduced to J&K in the past five years on land, jobs, mining rights and natural resources. They have also promised to roll back laws such as Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978; The Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act, 1967; and the Enemy Agents Ordinance Act,2005, which have been widely used by the Centre in the past five years to curb separatism in J&K. The PSA , which deals with preventive detention, is one of the few laws retained from the separate constitution of the erstwhile state of J&K. In fact Omar Abdullah from NC and Ms. Mufti from the PDP, both formers chief ministers were detained by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration under PSA in 2019 for several months. B y virtue of their hardened positions, NC and PDP , the two parties pose a new challenge to the BJP and the Central Govt.
Opportunities
BJP must take this electoral exercise as Godsend opportunity to have interaction with their voters and supporters through mass contact programmes. They do have a strong base in Jammu which can be utilized by way of proper political management and efficiently deploying their dedicated workforce to be instrumental in formation of stable Nationalist Government vis-a-vis pre poll alliance of NC and congress which may not click due to their separatist and reversal agenda on Art. 370 , 35-A, Public Safety Act etc.
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