Five Major Issues in J&K Elections
November 13, 2014
The 2014 state elections in Jammu & Kashmir are different from the previous elections in the state because of several reasons. To name a few, they are being held on the sidelines of the devastation wrought by unprecedented floods in the state; intermittent cross-border firing has aroused sentiments particularly in the Jammu region; Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent considerable time in the state ever since assuming office; anti-incumbency factor has resulted in the breakup of the ruling alliance of the National Conference and the Congress, and prompted the NC’s failed bid to postpone the elections; and most significantly, the issue of development has got precedence over politics of separatism and violence.
Such developments are set to impact the poll in the state to be held in five phases between November and December 2014. Some of the major election issues revolve around the following points:
1) Stability
Since 1996, when the NC had swept the state, all subsequent state elections in Jammu & Kashmir have seen fractured verdict. All the governments thereafter were formed with the Congress’s support. That such coalitions were devoid of any ideological considerations were exposed time and again as the Congress chose and dumped partners as was its wont. This time again the Congress has parted ways with the NC fuelling speculation that it may regroup with J&K People’s Democratic Party , with which it had shared power in 2002, in case of a hung assembly.
However, the PDP as well as the BJP are harping on the issue of stability and the BJP has been aggressively pursuing its goal of winning 44+ seats in the 87-member state Assembly.
2) Development
The state has suffered for long because of militancy. It politics largely revolved around the politically sensitive masla-e-Kashmir (the Kashmir issue).
The recent devastating floods in the state and the resulting predicament of the people as the floods adversely impacted the livelihood of almost 1.5 million families in the state, has shifted the focus to developmental issues and basic necessities. Issues of civic infrastructure are big poll issues this election time in J&K. A major issue would also be ensuring the voter cards as thousands of voter cards were damaged in the floods.
The BJP, which won the recent general elections on the development plank, now ostensibly exhorts the youth in the state to vote for the party which is in power at the Centre to ensure speedy development.
3) The Modi factor
The Modi factor is seemingly becoming omnipresent in all poll bound states ever since it did wonders for the BJP in the summer General Elections. It reaped rich harvest for the party in Maharashtra and Haryana and the BJP heavily banks on it in the ensuing Jharkhand and J&K elections as well.
Modi’s out of the box approach such as spending his Diwali with the flood victims in the Valley did make the separatists dumbfounded and his charisma is ostensibly giving a defining shape to the right wing politics in the state.
Although the BJP had just 11 seats – its best ever tally in the state – in the last J&K House, the party pins its hopes on the Hindu votes in the 37 seats of the Jammu region and the non-Muslim voters in four seats of Ladakh. In the last general elections, it won three seats from here and had then led in 26 assembly segments and secured an impressive 34 per cent vote share in the state. (The remaining three parliamentary seats were won by the PDP).
Of late, the BJP also pins its hopes on former separatist leader Sajjad Lone who recently met Modi – a move that also smacks of the BJP’s ‘soft-separatism’ policy that was initiated by the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime at the Centre. Reports suggest that the party would take a soft stand on Article 370 – which guarantees special status to the state – and not seek its abrogation. Yet, there are voices in the BJP for reducing the term of the Assembly to five years from the present six years to bring it at par with other states of the country.
The regional parties such as the PDP have joined issues with the BJP over the latter’s talks of a Hindu CM for the state aimed at luring the voters of Jammu and Ladakh regions, much to the chagrin of the rivals such as the PDP. A PDP leader reacted saying that a Hindu CM “would be curse for the Kashmiris”.
As for Ladakh, union territory status for its development is a topic that has often been raked up by the BJP in elections. It remains an election issue this time too.
4) Anti-Incumbency
Slow relief and rehabilitation measures in the wake of the devastating floods have shifted the focus to the people’s sufferings to such an extent that the ruling NC fearing reprisal, wanted the elections to be postponed. Its coalition partner, the Congress, pulled out of the alliance and both the parties are now targeting each other over corruption this elections. The BJP hopes to reap dividends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial assistance to the state in the wake of floods while the PDP is harping on the issue of the state’s “well being”.
5) Cross Border Firing
Unprovoked firings by Pakistan resulting in India’s retaliation have caused displacement of over 30,000 people who lived in the border villages. As the people are still coping with the consequences, India’s ‘befitting’ reply to Pakistan is being cited by the BJP to make strides in the Jammu region in the election. It has emerged as a major election issue also because the Opposition parties now blame the Omar Abdullah government in reacting late to rehabilitate the affected people who “are struggling to rebuild their life”.
The PDP promises “multi-faceted programmes” for socio-economic growth of border residents so that the farmers could cultivate their land right up to zero miles.
There has been a growing feeling that the Pakistan sponsored militancy has prevented the state from realising its true potential as a hot tourist destination.
Like earlier, the Pakistan supported All Party Hurriyat Conference has again given a boycott call for the elections. Can peaceful elections show the doors to separatists? It’s for the people of J&K to respond!
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