Anil Anand
In the heat and dust of partial abrogation of Article 370- removal of Article 35A and the resultant demotion and division of the State into two Union Territories, and more so the mad run for taking credit for diluting the Constitutional provision that the current ruling dispensation portrayed as the cause of all ills plaguing Kashmir, an important development taking place in the interregnum escaped public scrutiny.
In the normal course election to the Block Development Councils (BDCs), the lowest tier of the Panchayati Raj system, are hardly accorded any significance though a significant move in decentralising the administration. But Jammu and Kashmir BDCs polls were being held under different circumstances in the aftermath of the Article 370 related developments and controversies. All credit to the Government as the elections passed off peacefully but the political significance of its outcome should not have escaped the media and public gaze so easily. If someone is squarely to be blamed for this, it is the total silence of the opposition parties both at the Centre and the state levels and of course a strong section of the media.
From holding of these elections to the outcome it is a fabulous story to recount. The elections were held before the October 31, 2019 deadline of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh becoming two Union Territories, for unexplained reasons. One strong reason to hold polls after this deadline is the fact that many central laws including provisions emerging out of 73rd amendment related to Panchayati Raj, which were not applicable to J&K in its earlier avtar, would have automatically become operational after October 31. The applicability of 73rd amendment would have brought more clarity on the rights and powers of the Panchayats and BDCs. It only required postponing or declaring the election after October 31 and heavens would not have fallen on that. Perhaps the government thought differently which it has not till date shared with public.
Keeping aside the controversies generated by the procedural wrangling and the Government’s decision to hold the BDCs elections on party-basis, which was a departure from the earlier model of non-party basis Panchayat polls held sometimes back, the outcome of the BDC elections is interesting. It has raised certain questions and has to be read in conjunction with the Article 370 related developments. It is so because the BJP-led Government at the Centre and the Governor’s administration in the State have been relating all such developments to Article 370’s partial abrogation and see these as follow up developments portrayed as total acceptance of its theories on Article 370.
Ostensibly, the BDC elections were conducted on political party-lines with a simple reason that the ruling dispensation had expected to do better and it was poised to do so following boycott announced by Congress, and two state level political parties-National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It was an open field for the BJP all the way but the outcome proved to be mediocre from the party’s perspective though it put a brave face and claimed credit for it.
Had BJP swept the BDC polls its leaders, as their strategy is, would have claimed the rise in their popularity chart in the State now turned into UT. Going by the experience in the recent past they would have touted the electoral success as the people’s acceptance of whatever has been done in the context of J&K in the past few months.
First a cursory look at the results of the BDC elections in which only the two political parties namely BJP and J&K Panthers Party took part. It is another matter that Congress, National Conference and PDP had backed a sizable number of independent candidates particularly the BJP rivals. As per data released by J&K election authorities elections were held for 307 blocks. Of these barely 81 were won by the BJP and overall 217 by independents. The BJP’s successful candidates also included over a dozen who won uncontested in Kashmir Valley. More interestingly the party’s performance was below par in the Hindu dominated Jammu region where as per the claims of BJP leaders it was expected to sweep.
Should it be taken as a rejection of BJP-led Government’s stance on Article 370 and the manner in which it was hurriedly abrogated partially? By the BJP’s own yardstick of considering a poll victory as ratification of its stand and policies, it should have been so.
There is a strong sentiment for removal of Articles 370 and 35A. But it is also a fact that the bread and butter issues seem to be gaining currency over everything else. A different kind of dimension is prevailing in Kashmir Valley, there is a simmering discontent in Jammu on the current dispensation not caring for the promises it made to remove regional discrepancies, safeguard Jammu’s interests in the matter of land ownership and jobs so on and so forth.
The BDC election outcome should spur the Centre and the State administration and of course the ruling BJP into some introspection. With issues such as Article 370 and “Pakistan occupied Kashmir to be the next target” though Central to BJP’s hyper nationalism poll agenda but not helping their cause in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections, a self-assessment and introspection rather than credit claiming is in place.
Let there be no false perceptions and let the reality prevail. Was Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s decision to write a letter to jailed former Chief Minister of J&K, Farooq Abdullah congratulating him on his birthday, a step in the rethinking mode? It will be confirmed only if the letter is followed up with measures such as releasing Abdullah and other jailed leaders of the mainline political parties and taking the opposition parties into confidence.
The confirmation in equal measures be in place if the Modi dispensation took the sentiment of Jammu region in account. The growing feeling of the region being taken for granted by the BJP perhaps has been reflected in the party’s poor performance in the much hyped BDC elections. The more could be in store for them if Jammu continues to be ignored as earlier.
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