Bhat Yasir
While Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have announced not to participate in the assembly elections before the restoration of the statehood or Article 370, the vice-president of the Jammu Kashmir People’s Conference, Basharat Bukhari, has said the party will do the opposite.
The JKPC will participate in assembly elections even if the statehood is not restored before the elections, said party’s vice president Syed Basharat Ahmed Bukhari in an interview with The Kashmiriyat while demanding the restoration of statehood. He said that it should be back now in any case, “We want it restored today, now.”
Notably, the party chief Sajad Lone in an interview with News18 had also said two years back that the party will participate in assembly elections under union territory. In a latest interview with The Wire, he also claimed that NC and BJP will form the next government in Jammu Kashmir and both were “confabulating” with each other.
Bukhari, a former legislative member said “because we have to strive and struggle.” The elections “will be the time of struggle for the people of Jammu Kashmir and the persons who will be elected,” he said.
He added that the home minister Amit Shah has said in the Parliament that statehood will be restored. “He will not do us a favour, he will do a favour to himself and to the people in the parliament,” said Bukhari, while talking about the restoration of Statehood.
Bukhari has served as minister for Law, Justice, Revenue, Parliamentary affairs, Horticulture, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of erstwhile state of Jammu Kashmir. He said that it wasn’t like the past when they had powers. “I was also a minister. The situation now is not like those times but instead it is a time of struggle. I think now it’s our responsibility to give something back to people after struggling,” he said.
However, the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had vowed not to contest assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir till Article 370 is restored, saying it might be a “foolish” decision, but the issue is an “emotional” one for her, The Indian Express reported.
Omar Abdullah will also not contest assembly elections till statehood is restored. NC’s Farooq Abdullah has said, “Omar has already clarified that he will not contest elections till statehood of J-K is statehood.”
The Delay in Elections
It’s against the sense of democracy, said Bukhari while talking about the delay in assembly elections. He said that if the situation was normal for Panchayat and local body elections then what was the problem with assembly elections.
“The Home Minister and the LG are claiming that the situation is more normal than the past,” he said, also adding, “If the situation is normal elections should be conducted. The government of India claims every day that the situation is normal.”
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also asserted in an interview with a news agency that there has been improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism-related figures were at their lowest.
When Bukhari was asked if his party was ready for elections in case they are announced any moment, Bukhari said “Who’s not ready? When people are ready, we are ready, too.”
Gupkar Alliance
Bukhari said that he was clueless whether the mainstream parties will show unity in the elections that are to come through the Gupkar Alliance, since his party was no longer a part of it. “Alliance in the present time should be such that it is good and beneficial to the people,” said Bukhari, hinting that JKPC won’t join the alliance in future.
“Since the last three years what has PAGD brought back? They organize press conferences, have tea and go away, if that’s called an alliance then I’m against it,” he said.
Article 370
“Article 370 is our soul which was taken from us,” Bukhari said, adding “the way Article 370 and 35A were abrogated was wrong and undemocratic.”
“We are fighting for its restoration. I think People’s Conference is the first party which has gone to Supreme Court,” he remarked while talking about his party’s fight for its restoration.
“If we come into power, wherever required we will talk about it, because the accession of Jammu Kashmir with the union of India was made on these grounds. But we can’t say we will bring it back right now because you can’t do that.”
The Indian Express reported that the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had said in an interview with PTI in March this year that “I am never going to participate in assembly elections as long as Article 370 is not restored. Whenever I took an oath as a member of the assembly, it was under two Constitutions — the J-K Constitution and the Constitution of India, with two flags at the same time. Maybe it is foolish on my part, but, it is more of an emotional issue for me.”
Situation in J-K
“Who is happy? Why are we talking so much? It’s because people are not happy,” said Bukhari, on being asked if the people of Jammu Kashmir are happy in present times.
“The important thing is to listen. If someone comes to me and I’m not able to solve their issue, they’ll feel relieved if I listened to them. That is missing on the ground, that is nowhere to be seen,” he said.
Finally, when asked if he foresees elections in the near future, Buhari expressed himself as clueless. “I don’t know… I can’t see it.”