The Election Commission of India has done its job, though quite belatedly, by announcing the Assembly poll schedule for J&K, now it is for the political class of the Union Territory to show where it stands and for what. This is a make or mar election for J&K as its outcome will determine the route that the territory will take in the days to come and how its real status is seen by the people – a truly democratic one or manufactured. The ball is in the court of political parties, national, particularly BJP, and the regional ones- NC, PDP and Apni Party
Two situations can be visualised even today, 24 hours after the announcement of the dates for three phases in which the UT will go to polls – one the regional political groups, National Conference and People’s Democratic Party, and even Jammu Kashmir Apni Party and People’s Conference will reflect on the “ freedom, identity and dignity “of the people of the erstwhile state and how that was curbed and cursed by the Centre after the abrogation of Article 370 which also coincided with the division of the state into two union territories of Ladakh, and J&K. They will also play out the narrative that how all that can be reversed, which may seem to be near impossible, not just that BJP which brought about these changes is in power at the Centre, because it has a national mood in support of these measures.
In the second situation , BJP , which claims that it has done everything in Jammu and Kashmir, including truncating its geography and demography and reducing the status of J&K from a majestic state to Union Territory in the national interest, finds itself above any accountability for its actions. Its logic is simple, “ look at the change that has occurred in Kashmir since abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.” It points out to the major windfall of tourists and high-sounding statistics are rolled out to convince the world that it has transformed Kashmir and got it back its coveted title of paradise on earth . The tourism is related to so many things, including the end to an era of stone throwing , bullets and bombs, shutdowns in the Valley. This is a statement of facts. But what BJP is shying of telling the people is that how it has used a narrative to demonise the political rule of the past in a way as if nothing had happened in the state prior to the abrogation of Article 370 The irony in this is that the BJP was part of the coalition government with PDP for almost three and a half years, that too when the state was having Article 370 .
BJP’s anger against NC, PDP and Congress is that these parties used Article 370 as a shield to growth of terrorism in the state, hence they deserved to be kept out of the political spectrum. The BJP had used this campaign against these parties in the 2014 Assembly polls, which finally landed it into the slot of a coalition partner with PDP. The two parties had formed the government in March 2015, and the party again wooed PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti for alliance after the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016 and continued with the alliance government till June 2018.
In the current scenario, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party of Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari , which is in its fifth year of its birth- it was founded on March 8, 2020 – is the newest regional player, which is traversing a middle path . It was perceived to be close to Delhi , and paid price in Lok Sabha elections where its performance was below expectations of not only its own leadership but also that of the people . This shows that how the people in Kashmir view certain unspoken alliances. Apni Party, however , has much to gain in the coming elections if it continues with its doctrine of tearing apart the deceptions of the past political world and offer a vision to the youth . It is having clarity in its mind , the task is to deliver that sense of clarity of its purpose to the masses that are still entrapped into emotional political slogans of the past .
Altaf Bukhari has made it clear that it will have no alliances with any other party come what may, and still stand by what it believes firmly . He demonstrated it by hoisting the national tricolour in his party office when no other regional party even attempted that. It is a symbol of nationalist force – combination of Kashmiri nationalism and that of the Indian nation – in the Valley. It is an unenviable position in the traditional Kashmir politics , but he has taken a risk to venture onto the path of his own . The risks are well known , rewards depend on how the people view him and his party’s doctrine .
It will be a keen contest in the coming days. There is no need to go by what their manifestoes will say because those will be on the dotted lines of the past. Jammu and Kashmir is looking to several outcomes in the aftermath of the elections. It may not be a referendum on the revocation of Article 370 but it will certainly be a vote for political choices , unless those are managed by one side or the other . BJP has a greater responsibility to hold itself accountable for what all happened in the past more than six years . Jammu and Kashmir elections do not become fair only because there is a hope for the level playing field, they will be fair when the management instruments are taken out of the electoral battles. Political and administrative accountability has to be more than what it was until the last election of 2014 if the democratic process is to take fresh roots in Jammu and Kashmir.
| 
