When opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha visited Kashmir on July 9, he made a statement of his all-inclusive approach and outreach, despite knowing that there were not many votes in the Valley for him. The Valley counts for three MPs- all from National Conference, and that counts nothing much in the electoral college for the presidential election.
As there are few days left for the presidential polls on July 18, it is quite unlikely that NDA’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu will visit Kashmir, her focus is on big states with the legislatures and which send maximum members to the parliament. She might also be thinking, at least her campaign advisers that it was pointless to visit the Valley where the National Conference has extended unequivocal support to the Opposition candidate. Two other MPs from J&K belong to BJP, the party committed to vote and support Murmu.
The point here is that Kashmir is not all about votes in the electoral college, it makes a statement of its own in the country, and presidential candidates should understand that before and after their election.
The political prudence in the atmosphere, currently prevailing in the country, dictates embracing Kashmir for more than one reason, especially for the presidential candidates. Their visits help them further the syncretic nature of the Indian ethos in the Valley which legally, geographically, and constitutionally is as much an integral part of the country as other state/ province or UT. And, in itself what does Kashmir represent to geopolitical terms; jewel in the crown of India as it straddles between Himalayan ranges on top of the map of the country, in geostrategic terms, it is the most precious asset with the country which helps it define that how it cares for the ethnically and geographically different entity to emphasise unity in diversity idea and commitment of the nation. The most important aspect is its demography, overwhelmingly Muslim, and in pure political terms, post abrogation of Article 370, new political imperatives have been thrown in the new vision with a new roadmap of development and holistic progress. The high-profile visits reinforce and expand on the Indian vision unveiled at the time of making constitutional changes in August 2019. And it is the first presidential election after the changes were made, reiterating that Kashmir was now integrated completely with India as never before. Added to this is the fact, that recently the delimitation commission took a crucially important decision of reserving nine out of 90 seats in the would be Assembly -a first of firsts in the new scheme of the electoral politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Murmu belongs to the tribe She would have made a grand statement by her visit.
There were sufficient hints that BJP would take all parties, including the Opposition groups, to seek support for its candidate. The party president J P Nadda had phoned NC president Farooq Abdullah in mid-June and sought his support and also had told him that he would undertake a visit to the Valley. That visit has not materialized. With Draupadi Murmu skipping Srinagar has missed a unique opportunity of sending a message that she is having Kashmir to Kanyakumari approach.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
