Sep 27, 2024 09:14 PM IST
There is no boycott call this time, neither has coercion to vote been reported. The assembly polls, however,feel unpredictable and full of intangible variables
Outside a small polling booth in a village in the interiors of South Kashmir, where the only access to the booth was a precarious walk down a steep hill’s slippery mud track, I witnessed an intriguing argument between two voters.
The focus of their friction was over the participation of an independent candidate Sayar Reshi, backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami. “The Jamaat should explain how what it considered haraam all these years has become halal all of a sudden,” said one irate citizen. The other countered by questioning the absence of development in the constituency, pointing upwards to the pebbled pathway we had just taken. “We need new options,” he said, explaining why he was supporting the local, Jamaat-backed professor, whose election symbol is the laptop and election song is “Top top laptop.”
The historic election in Jammu and Kashmir — the first in ten years and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution — is a very curious and unpredictable one. The Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by the Narendra Modi government in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (anti-terror law). In February 2024, home minister Amit Shah announced the extension of the ban on social media platforms, asserting that the organisation had been found “continuing its activities against security, integrity and sovereignty of India…”.
But in this election, the Jamaat has backed at least 10 independent candidates. It has also tied up for a strategic alliance with Engineer Rashid, the “giant killer” who defeated both Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone in the Lok Sabha elections this summer while being in jail for a terror-funding case. Rashid, who has been granted bail for campaigning in these elections, scoffs at the charge of being a proxy for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “I can’t both be called an Islamist and a BJP proxy, can I?”, he quizzed me in his usual provocative style, full of confidence that he would once again be the game-changer in this election.
Is separatism being mainstreamed in this significant election? It would not be the first time that the attempt has been made. In 2002, Lone, then a separatist, fielded a proxy candidate named Ghulam Mohiuddin Sofi from Handwara in North Kashmir, in his first flirtation with electoral politics. Today, Lone is “mainstream” and “legacy” while there is an attempt to build a new class of politicians.
The Jamaat, for instance, has not directly engaged with elections since 1987. When I asked Reshi what made him take the plunge this time, he said “Duniya badal gayee hai (the world has changed).” He referred to the widely quoted example of the 1987 elections being manipulated and rigged, to explain why the Jamaat began staying away — 1987 was the same election in which the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, Syed Salahuddin (then Mohd Yusuf Shah), took part in the polls.
As the wheel of history turns back to the future, among the candidates at the other end of the Kashmir Valley is the brother of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Ajaz Guru, who worked in the animal husbandry department of the government till a few years ago, is running as an independent candidate. We take a tonga ride through the town of Sopore where the pony and cart remain a popular mode of transport. “I am not my brother,” he says of Afzal who was hanged at Delhi’s Tihar jail after conviction. “In my election affidavit, I have sworn my allegiance to India.” Like every other candidate, Ajaz Guru too has security personnel assigned to protect him.
Omar Abdullah, who told me he believes this to be his toughest election ever, is convinced that all of the “independents” are part of a plan by the Modi government to decimate or at least the queer the pitch for parties like the National Conference. Abdullah, who is contesting from two seats this time, has blamed the Centre for the relatively lower turnout in the second phase of the assembly elections. His argument — the Modi government is seeking to link voter participation with acceptance of Article 370 — has made more people stay at home this time around.
Article 370 and the ending of the state’s special status is, of course, the backdrop against which the elections are being held. But the most voluble chorus you hear is the demand for jobs. Everything else the Kashmiri voter is feeling today might just be expressed through the vote. Just like Baramulla threw up a surprise in the Lok Sabha, the assembly elections feel unpredictable and full of intangible variables. There is also the question of how the region of Jammu will vote, how well the BJP does there, and how effectively the Congress can contain it.
But the fact is that for the first time in years there is no boycott call. And even the most extreme conspiracy theorist does not argue that anyone has been coerced to vote. It is an election like no other for a variety of reasons. And something intriguing is simmering and shifting under the surface.
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal
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