Prof Javed Mughal encompasses the sweet and sour memoirs of the preceding year in the words of Kamla Das with a little distortion “The year has sped along, stopping briefly at beloved halts and moving sadly on.”
This year as usual stands dotted with the same stereo-typed incidents and accidents; scuffling and skirmishes between Army and Ultras and countless other routine affairs need not to mention here. Apart from it, the year 2014 remained the epicenter of attraction for the political activism. The Parliamentary and the Assembly elections were held somewhere in the month of July and in the last two months of 2014. These elections especially the Parliamentary Elections were very interesting for they displayed a metamorphic reformation and meaningful awakening among the masses. The public kept in mind the performance and output of the political parties while voting for them and for first the time the voters were perceived to have been revengeful in approach. This time the Candidate-politics, not the mandate politics, was the preference of the masses.
In these elections the voters did to the politicians what the politicians had been doing to them down the decades. The NC-Congress coalition had invited a great ire of the people especially the educated lot of the state by introducing the exploitative Recruitment Policy and this resentment was clearly expressed during the Parliamentary Elections wherein the NC and the Congress were totally relegated to the background losing all seats to the BJP and the PDP with the ratio of 3:3. But the point of appreciation is that the losing parties realized their blunder well in time and ratified it but unfortunately could not get what they wanted for the people proved too intelligent to be taken in by their gimmicks. It is partially presumed that all these public oriented steps and measures were taken after being rejected by the public during the Parliamentary Elections for fear of meeting the same fate in assembly elections. The enhancement of Retirement Age and the extension in the lower age limit in the context of recruitment was another welcome step by the coalition government of the Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the creation of about one thousand Administrative Units and CD Blocks across the state also deserves to be applauded since it was another step to facilitate the problems of the masses. Although the establishment of administrative units across the state has brought in a great problem for the government that pertains to the functioning of the units, the infra-structure to be provided and the employment generation and these are not minor issues to be tackled yet it was taken easily by the public. Anyhow the Coalition Government did it primarily because they had to put the agitated public back into a jolly mood. Yes, 2014, off-course, was also generous enough to give some respite to the people of Jammu and Kashmir where some significant decisions were taken by the Govt. of the state somewhere in the mid of the year under discussion like revoking the New Recruitment Policy.
Braving the bullets : Border people bearing the brunt of Pakistan’s misadventure.
Undoubtedly, such decisions definitely proved conducive to repairing the fractured image of the coalition Government particularly of the National Conference. NC, beyond all shadows of doubt emancipated her from the shackles of despair and improved. In the mid of this year another comfort was gifted to the people of Jammu by the Indian Premier by inaugurating the Udhampur- Katra Railway Line. Off-course it sent across a great moment of joy to the people of Jammu in general and the Yatris in particular. The Train Service will render an impetus to the business at and around Katra. Similarly the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated a hydro-electric project at Uri including Transmission Lines at Leh-Kargil and Srinagar. The assembly elections were held in Five Phases and Mr. Modi- the Prime Minister displaying his Ultimate political acumen made it possible to get the highest polling percentage recorded in the state. BJP’s tacit hint of meddling with Article 370 virtually left an impression of insecurity among the
ON Duty : Indian paramilitary soldiers take position during an attack by millitants at Dayalachak in Kathua District.
political strata of Jammu and Kashmir as a result of which even Hurriyat Conference took back its boycott call and advised the people to go ahead for voting as much as they can. The state of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time witnessed the highest voting percentage in the Valley. Shortly after the voting in the valley was almost over, the statement of the Premier to the Media came out saying that there is no question of tempering with Article 370.
Power of vote : People participating in democratic process.
Mr. Modi offered to have a detailed debate on this issue. Modi was not concerned with the attainment of seats from the Valley which he knew he could not but his motive was to show to the international forums that Kashmiris are and wish to be the part of India and its constitutional process and if till yesterday they did not participate in the electoral process, it was because of the inefficiency of the subsequent governments. The state of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the greatest no. of tours of the Indian Premier in 2104 after independence. Another point of great wonder is that in 2014 Rajouri-Poonch area remained the hub of the hottest political activities and this region witnessed the 2 intermittent rounds of the Prime Minister after 40 years and all other summit leaders like Mr. Omar, Mr. Mufti, Mr. Azad, Mr. Soz, Mr. Rajnath Singh, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, and many other great political stalwarts made their frequent visits and presences realized in this region. Only Rajouri witnessed more than 900 public rallies of various political parties. In the meantime two insipid incidents occurred where the renowned Political Comedian and the erstwhile Cricketer Mr. Najot Singh Sidhu and Mr. Ravinder Raina both the workers of BJP were assaulted and rescued at Chatha and Nowshehra.
Tragic loss : Mangled body of a bus.
LoC remained hot his year. The border people suffered heavily due to Pak firing. The people had to shift to safar places. Many innocent people, soldiers and cattle were lost. India too retaliated heavily.
On 23rd of December 2014 the cat was out of the bag and swaged its tail in favour of PDP and BJP frightening the ruling NC-Congress Coalition to the corner of discomfiture. PDP despite their untiring struggle and unswerving persistence could not keep the BJP much behind. The Modi wave worked and the BJP bagged 25 seats with the addition of 14 seats to what they got in 2008. PDP stuck to 28 seats which, to me, was not a spectacular success in itself. NC and Congress were reduced to 15 and 12 respectively losing about 06 seats to the independent candidates. The anti-incumbency factor definitely adversely impacted the electoral proceedings extending all damage to the ruling coalition in the Assembly as well as the Parliamentary Elections and also these elections revealed political acumen of the public and for the first the time Individual Candidate, not the Party mandate, was taken into consideration. It will not be out of place to say that the year 2014 was the luckiest one for the BJP. I have seen some of the pseudo-political analysts saying that “the BJP failed to translate their Mission 44+”.
Mission 44: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing an election rallly in Srinagar.
Let us not bypass this stark reality that the Kashmir Valley, where once upon a time, even hoisting the tri-colour national flag was not even a distant possibility, was reverberating with the BJP slogans and dotted with the Lotus Symbols all around.
The heart sinks in the quagmire of disappointment to say that the year 2104 will not forget the ravages of the worst life-seeking flood which left countless children orphan, many old-aged parents helpless, number of families homeless and left tears rolling along the face of thousands of innocents across the state in general and in the Valley in particular.
Militant Attack : Army soldiers search for militants as smoke rises from a bunker after a gunbattle in Mohra in Uri, north Kashmir.
The heart rending spectacle of this deadly flood that hit hard the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir rendering heavy loss of life and property will ever be remembered with a heavy heart. The role of Indian Army and other paramilitary forces will always be stamped on the plank of our heart and mind.
Hardly the romantic drama of elections was over on 6th of December an extremely painful incident took place where the Fidayeen attacked at three different points in Kashmir where in as many as 21 precious lives including an Army Officer and about ten other Army personnel were targeted. It was a heavy loss to the country.
ballot power: Ladakhi women in queue to cast their vote.
The attack was launched in fact to intimidate the public so that the polling performance of the masses gets adversely affected. But although the attempt was not so successful yet the loss of lives was unbearable and irreparable. This way 2014 furled its wings leaving behind sweet and sour impression on our mind.
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