Politicians have themselves made a mockery of politics by misinterpreting people’s aspirations more in Jammu & Kashmir than any other part of the country. Unfortunately political leaders don’t learn lesson from their own follies of the past which have ruined politics in this part of the country and finally brought it down to the level of panchayats and ironically now they fail even in running panchayat bodies and municipalities at the grass roots. Promising excellence in development and delivery of public services at the grass roots during DDC elections last year and raising demands for only more pay and perks for themselves and not the developmental plans for fast track development immediately after the elections is sufficient enough an indication that political parties are more bothered about their own aspirations and very less about aspirations of the people who vote them to power. While talking about restoration of scrapped special status and statehood the top leaders of political parties were seen indulging in the worst forms of political defections in their fight for control over district development councils (DDCs), block development council (BDCs), village panchayats and the municipalities. Three elections for Mayor Srinagar Municipal Corporation in three consecutive years and the election of only one Corporator for the top post only because of his defections shows the quantum of respect leaders of political parties have for the public mandate and consequently the aspirations of the people. Had Srinagar Mayor little bit of concerns about the sanctity of public mandate and consequently the aspirations of the people who voted him to power, the sharpness and shrillness of the accusations from the civil society and bureaucracy against him won’t have brought into question his own personal integrity and also that of the top public office he holds at the top civic body. Locking SMC office to show his superiority over a senior officer in a tussle over some issues of building permissions in recent days was his yet another abortive attempt to spoil the work culture of the topic civic body for furtherance of the causes of his own political aspirations.
Had political morality been dearest to the political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir, politics won’t have spoiled the most powerful public institutions of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state since bifurcated into two union territories. Now is the time for political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir to shun politics of deceit and misinterpretation of public aspirations for furtherance of the real causes of public aspirations. Perhaps sense of uniting instead of distancing on political lines could be a welcome change for the growth of aspirational politics in Jammu & Kashmir .
Had political morality been dearest to the political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir, politics won’t have spoiled the most powerful public institutions of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state since bifurcated into two union territories. Now is the time for political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir to shun politics of deceit and misinterpretation of public aspirations for furtherance of the real causes of public aspirations. Perhaps sense of uniting instead of distancing on political lines could be a welcome change for the growth of aspirational politics in Jammu & Kashmir .
