PAGD

Arun Joshi PAGD has taken first step in its strategy in run up to the mush--awaited Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, though there is no one is having any idea as to when will this democratic exercise appear on the calendar of this or next year. There are two prominent figures in the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, its president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Mehbooba Mufti, who also head their parties – National Conference and PDP. Both of them have voiced their wish to contest the elections jointly. If what Farooq and Mehbooba have stated turns out to be true in actual terms, it will be sort of a political miracle Kashmir’s landscape riddled in the past by no holds barred campaign against each other. Those irritants still guide the inner circles of the two parties, which accounted for 43 seats in the last legislative Assembly, elected in December 2014, dissolved in November 2018. The conciliation under the big banner of PAGD, both the parties insist, is for a larger purpose to get back the special status of Jammu and Kashmir which was scrapped of on August 5, 2019. The unity in the elections sounds nice to the ears of all those who wish the Kashmiri Muslims to vote en bloc to the PAGD. It is more of symbolism than anything concrete in terms of the restoration of the special status. The outcome of the elections, as and when held, will not alter the constitutional status of J&K that was changed three years ago, but participation of the like-minded parties wedded to the cause of the restoration of Article 370 fight polls as PAGD, it would be a great messaging to the people in the Valley and beyond. And the biggest of these would be that the idea of special status is alive and vibrant. Even when it is known that the legislative Assembly elected in the Union territory will not even be a patch in its powers that the erstwhile state legislative Assembly had – the state legislative assembly had the powers to make its own laws and no central law could be extended to J&K without its endorsement – the number of votes polled by the Alliance would reflect prevailing political move in Kashmir. The Valley has 47 seats in the proposed Assembly of 90, with the rest of the 43 coming from Jammu, yet the voting pattern in Kashmir will matter more than in the other region. This is an established political reality. It has not changed despite the delimitation commission granting six more seats to Jammu as against only one to the Valley. One, of course, it is because the Valley is almost fully Muslim, and secondly, it represents the political philosophy with its own regional identity, as also, paradoxically though, accepting and resisting certain influences. Pakistan would not like elections to take place in Kashmir, it, as it did in the past, would mobilize elements supporting it, to generate a wave of poll boycott, but that is destined to fail. The people, suffocated by the chokehold of the bureaucratic rule, want to have a political government that would be accessible and accountable to them. They are keener than ever to take part in the polls. This is one reality, Kashmir is having string reservations. About parties other than their regional outfits. They love their regional identity more than anything else. They are not convinced much about the theories and promises of the groups like Congress and AAP which have no clear stand on Kashmir, while with regard to BJP, they nurture real and imaginary fears, but they are resentful of the measures undertaken by the BJP government which abolished Article 370 and brought laws and initiated steps that they believe undermined their identity. Farooq Abdullah who heads the PAGD asserted that the “Alliance of the like-minded parties will fight elections jointly,” and he clarified that the nitty gritty of seat adjustment would be undertaken only after the elections are announced. His answer to questions about whether the situation is conducive enough to conduct elections is, “if they could hold elections during devastating floods in 2014, why can’t these be held now." Kashmir valley was struck by massive floods in the past century in 2014, and the National Conference had sought postponement of the polls, but the Election Commission of India has ruled that out; it went ahead with the polls in November-December even when the people were reeling from impact of the devastation PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is a strong votary of the united fight in the polls. “It is a fight for our dignity and honour, we cannot compromise on it. The political differences are small thing against the backdrop of the larger objective at stake.” All this is much easier said than done. The real test would be for the alliance to fight back allegations thrown at it by BJP and some other parties that they were responsible for the miseries inflicted on the masses during the 70 year-rule of theirs. BJP wants to establish itself as a party that brought fundamental changes in governance and delivered justice to the people. This is less than three years ( since abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019) versus 70 years narrative. But Kashmir is having its own views, and it would be visible in the reaction that the PAGD would get for its announcement of fighting polls jointly. That will determine the course. As of now, PAGD has floated trial balloon to generate debate within the Valley and tow watch how the rivals would react and reveal their strategies.

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