Held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir after the repeal of Article 370, the first major election exercise, the District Development Council (DDC) polls, will be a fight between ‘BJP and all other parties’. The first phase of the polls begins on Saturday.
Mainstream politics have been through tough times at J&K. Most parties with a stronghold in Kashmir province have opposed the August 5 measure and their leaders, including three former chief ministers, were detained for months. These parties have decided to fight the DDC polls, as opposed to the Block Development Council (BDC) polls boycott following the repeal of Article 370, jointly to counter the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
This united front, the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), includes the People’s Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir (PDP), the National Conference, the People’s Conference of Jammu and Kashmir (PC), and the Congress Party.
PAGD may appear as the only opposing front in J&K to the BJP, but the party faces challenges in its stronghold, Jammu, from a number of small and newly created parties, although they have not formed a joint front.
Unlike PAGD, these parties not only supported the BJP government’s August 5 measure, but celebrated when the region was stripped of its special status.
Mainly, two new festivals are attracting attention in Jammu. These include Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS), made up of former BJP leader Lal Singh, who was also a minister in the last BJP-PDP government in the old state, and IkkJutt Jammu, who worked as a social organization and entered the center. of care in 2018. after campaigning for the CBI to investigate the Kathua rape case. The group launched a political party earlier this month.
“The central government has a consistent policy of more than seventy past years to carry J&K through Kashmir,” said Ankur Sharma, president of IkkJutt Jammu, who believes that “BJP also adopted the same policy. In the policy paradigm, (BJP) is no different from Congress. “
These parties, unlike PAGD, are not against the repeal of Article 370, but they are talking about a separate Jammu state and are contesting the Jammu region seats only. “The people of Jammu have been made scapegoats,” said Choudhary Lal Singh. “The new laws are going to make the people of Jammu homeless.”
In the words of BJP leader and former J&K Senior Deputy Minister Kavinder Gupta, “this election is literally BJP against everyone.”
“The BJP has proven to be a total failure,” believes Harsh Dev Singh, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panther Party, who is also fighting DDC polls in the Jammu seats. “We are the people who support the repeal of section 370 in the hope that something good will happen, that young people will be empowered and Jammu will receive proper participation. All these slogans have proven to be a jet of water, ”said Singh.
Even some parties, like Shiv Sena, have boycotted the elections as a brand against the BJP. These parties, BJP leaders feel, will not be much of a challenge in the polls, but they fear that their campaign for separation from Jammu could grow into a larger movement.
“After the repeal of Article 370, people are happy in Jammu, but these parties are doing everything they can to show people that their identity is in danger,” Gupta told News18.
But the leaders of these parties feel that the August 5 decision was a ‘half-done job’ that has put the identity of the Jammu ‘Dogras’ at stake.
“The delimitation process will be carried out on the basis of the 2011 census that was rigged,” believes Sharma, adding that “it will resurrect the hegemony of Kashmir as more seats (in the assembly) will go to Kashmir.”
Sharma’s voting table is that Jammu should separate from Kashmir and become a state and then Kashmir should be divided into two union territories, one for the Muslim population and one for the pandits.
One more complaint Sharma has with BJP is that they did not get a prime minister from Jammu in his tenure. “Three times they had the opportunity to elevate someone from Jammu to Chief Minister, but they chose to get one from Kashmir,” said Sharma, who was also one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court of India against Article 35 A.
PAGD is also in alliance in the Jammu region, but BJP leaders feel that Jammu-based parties are unlikely to affect this alliance’s voter base.
“The alliance (PAGD) will get votes in the Muslim majority area of Jammu, but the Jammu-based parties fighting the BJP have a base of support in areas the BJP trusts,” said a BJP leader. which indicates it could affect BJP votes.
These parties, like PAGD, are also raising concerns that locals will lose jobs and people from other states and the corporate sector will be a challenge for residents. “People from abroad are going to settle here and once they have their home, they will have work. Now we have to compete with other states, ”said Harsh Dev Singh.
Some BJP leaders are concerned about the presence of these parties because in the electoral campaign the BJP is not addressing the issues that these parties are raising. “We are not talking about statehood or the issues raised by these parties. Like the fear of the entry of the business sector, ”said a BJP leader.
BJP’s Gupta said that in elections, they go to people saying that if a company enters, it will increase their job opportunities. “We are talking about making Jammu an independent tourist destination,” Gupta said.
The first phase of the elections began on Saturday at 7 a.m. The voting exercise will take place in eight phases and will end on December 19, and the results will be declared before December 22.
This is also the first time that the elections in J&K are open to non-state subjects such as West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) after the repeal of the state subjects laws with the revocation of articles 370 and 35A.
Elections are held on the basis of parties, with the aim of reviving the Panchayati Raj system.
In October, the Center passed amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act of Jammu and Kashmir 1989, paving the way for 280 directly elected members in 20 districts and thus allowing the formation of the three levels of Panchayati Raj Institutions: Panchayat, Block Development Council ( BDC) and DDC, with a five-year mandate.
Disclaimer:The author is a freelance writer.
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