Shehlat Maknoon
As 2020 came to an end the District Development Council election results were declared in ten districts of Kashmir, voter turnout failed to touch the 40% mark despite stentorian campaigning by top BJP leaders like Shahnawaz Hussain and Anurag Thakur who hoisted the Indian tri-color across Kashmir and claimed that the August 5 changes were welcomed by people of the erstwhile state.
The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which was formed to ‘fight’ for the restoration of Article 370, swept the maiden polls by winning 110 seats. In Kashmir, PAGD won 72 seats while BJP could only bag three. The Alliance also won 35 seats in the Jammu division. The majority of the population in Kashmir (over 60%) decided to stay away, from what they discern as sham elections. And the rest voted overwhelmingly for Gupkar Alliance.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir rejected the colonial narrative of ‘development’ peddled by the Bhartiya Janata Party. The voter turnout is more telling than the final results – people have understood the political disempowerment brought forth by the BJP government. No message is also a message. It is not that the Alliance — which claims to be the flag bearer of the Kashmiri sentiment — has been vindicated by these results.
Even they could not persuade people to come out and vote. That might be the reason why BJP, an ultra-nationalist Hindu party, won three seats in Kashmir.
If we are to believe the BJP, “Gupkar Gang” is an anti-national syndicate funded and supported by foreign forces. A large number of Kashmiris have voted for the pro-autonomy Gupkar Alliance. 60% of people in Kashmir did not participate in the elections while a majority of 51% — who voted across Jammu and Kashmir — supported the “anti-national” Alliance. If we make a rough estimate, we can say that the entire population of Jammu and Kashmir has rejected the ultra-nationalist narrative of the BJP.
Does that mean that the BJP will imprison all of those voters? And what about those who decided to stay away from these elections? What is it that they want?
Speaking at a virtual event recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the DDC polls were an “example of democracy” and that the “huge participation” of people in these elections was a moment of pride for India. Let us recall the fact that it was perhaps the first time in the history of India that a state was downgraded to a union territory and simultaneously bifurcated into two. Let us also not forget that the limited autonomy, which to some extent protected the disputed region from outsiders — thereby preventing demographic change —was abrogated with brute force. The subsequent curfew and communication blockade lasted for several months. Thousands of political prisoners are still languishing in jails, and that includes pro-freedom leaders.
Despite all this, the Indian government has tried to project these elections as a sign of reconciliation and a step towards assimilation.
There used to be a time when the Indian government talked about greater autonomy while Kashmir’s pro-freedom leaders argued for a plebiscite. Editorials and op-eds in leading Indian newspapers called for resigning recognizing the political aspirations of Kashmiris. Although a few of them had the courage or the will to explicitly state what the people of the region aspired for, the space for discussion was still more accommodating. However, the current discourse has been restricted to praising these tokenistic elections, calling them the “revival of democracy” in Jammu and Kashmir.
The unionist Kashmiri politicians who used to ask for votes by invoking self-rule (Peoples Democratic Party) and autonomy (National Conference) have also been forced to take a step back. At the same time, Kashmir’s pro-freedom leaders have vanished from the public eye. They only feature in news related to their court cases and property seizures. The BJP has successfully injected its own narrative across the political spectrum.
The unionists in Jammu Kashmir have repeatedly been called puppets of the Indian government.
They have laboured to sustain the mask of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. PAGD’s argument for fighting these elections (after initially deciding against it) was that they did not want the BJP to have a “free run” in the region. Since that was the only reason for taking part in these elections, what is stopping them from resigning from these disempowered posts and rejecting these new governance units created after the abrogation of the limited autonomy.
It is obvious that the DDC elections were more of a symbolic exercise rather than a “revival of the democratic process.” The DDCs will not come anywhere close to the now abolished state assembly. The Alliance has made a point and accomplished the objective which they set for themselves. They will never command credibility in front of the Indian masses who see them as Pakistan supporters, courtesy Indian media. Congress distancing itself from the PAGD after a scathing attack by the BJP proves just that.
For once, the unionists in Kashmir should stand up to their word and not scramble for the crumbs of power offered by the DDC.
In Naya Kashmir, thousands of people have been jailed while human rights violations have peaked during the last one year. The Alliance leaders have a decision to make – whether to do politics for New Delhi or to stand up for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. They must not help perpetuate the “normalcy” which the BJP claims has returned to Kashmir. The BJP is not celebrating their entry in Kashmir or what they say is the support for “development” and a negation of “terrorism” by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
They are rejoicing the start of a process that seeks to normalize the disempowered political space in J&K wherein the Governor, and his bureaucrats, have all the powers. They are also happy because the participation of the Kashmiri politicians in these elections is being seen as an acceptance of the August 5 changes. During campaigning, the Alliance leaders repeatedly called for the restoration of J&K’s limited autonomy.
DDCs are a byproduct, or rather a smokescreen for the undemocratic constitutional downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir. Resigning from them en masse is the only way the
Alliance leaders can stand in support of the limited autonomy, which they claim to fight for. The BJP is aggressively changing the point of reference for many Kashmiris – be it pro-freedom leaders or the unionist politicians.
Therefore, it is important to not lose the sense of history and reject the misleading discussions which seek to obscure the political reality of Kashmir.
The Views expressed by the author are his own.