Vote sloganeering in Kashmir

Though low key campaigning due to the unending anger against the proactive policy of the central government both on detentions of separatists and curbs on their political activities and as well as counter militancy offensives does not attract much attention to the electioneering in the ongoing lok sabha elections but sloganeering on Kashmir resolution, article 370, article 35 A and detentions of separatist leaders and curbs on their political activities by almost all mainstream political parties particularly Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) , National Conference and Congress has become the point of public debate. Knowing that during last seventy years false sloganeering has become the political tool for power struggle in Kashmir, people tend to make laughable arguments over the statements of National Conference, PDP and Congress over Kashmir issue. The tragedy with the people of Kashmir is that all the three political parties NC, Congress and PDP presently in fray for the lok sabha bye elections have largely contributed to the erosion of public faith in the working of the democratic system here in this only muslim majority state of the country. Since people know it better than the political parties contesting elections that government is conducting a name sake election exercise just for the purposes of completing an unavoidable democratic and constitutional formality . The conduct of the election exercise to just fill the valley three lok sabha constituencies is in fact tantamount to rubbing the salt into wounds of those hundreds families who have lost their loved ones during crowd control policing during last three years of public unrest in several parts of Kashmir valley.
While the PDP has the dubious distinction of denying a judicial probe into the civilian killings during its more than two year long coalition rule to make a mockery of the justice delivery system in the state, National Conference and Congress too are equally responsible for the deepening Kashmir crisis and political instability in the state. The report cards of all the three contesting political parties National Conference, PDP and Congress is equally questionable and condemnable as the people know them by their actions. Now when these three main political parties are struggling for power in a worsening law and order scenario, their leaders tend to appease the voter by renewing the slogans according to the situation in the aftermath of the political and legal offensives of BJP against article 370 guaranteeing special status to Jammu & Kashmir state and as well as article 35 A governing the state subject laws of the state. Had these three contesting political parties PDP, National Conference and Congress been true to their words, the anger among youth won’t have fueled on the streets in Kashmir and hundreds of them won’t have fallen prey to pellets and bullets during last three years’ of public unrest and six month long summer uprising in the year 2010.