The lowest turnout ever recorded in last three decades has almost indicated the rout of mainstream political parties and endorsement of separatist forces seeking a resolution of the future political status of Jammu & Kashmir state. Though there was marked improvement in the turn out in assembly and parliamentary elections for different reasons but the successive central governments only constituted committees to look into the political issues but never both to resolve the issues which have been at the centre of difficulties in state-centre relations in case of Jammu & Kashmir and India-Pakistan relation revolving around the future of the political status of the state. Though the central governments’ headed by Attal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh re-opened travel and trade routes between the divided parts of Jammu & Kashmir to further the causes of people to people contact, but UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh during its second term did not take much interest in addressing the political concerns of the people of Jammu & Kashmir and instead allowed Omar Abdullah led NC-Congress coalition government to continue in office despite its abject failures in handling the situation that saw more than hundred youth felling to the bullets of police and paramilitaries in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley. With the takeover of the reins of power by Narendra Modi led government at the centre and PDP-BJP government assuming office in Jammu & Kashmir, the people were upset with politics PDP played to allow its ally BJP to start laying legal traps on the contentious issues like article 370, state flag, property right act under article 35 A and the ban on beef.
The brute surrender of PDP before BJP’s die hard insistence on implementation of RSS agenda rendered not only PDP but all the mainstream political parties irrelevant as shown by record low turnout in Srinagar bye polls. It is for the Modi led BJP government at the centre to take a serious view of the anger brewing up against the mainstream politics and take some corrective measures with focus over engagement with resistance leadership to revive the political process in the state.
PDP even allowed the appointment of such RSS sponsored lawyer as advocate general who had filed petition on beef ban and his ouster after the beef ban controversy was almost an outdated decision as the damage done by him had changed the perception of the people about PDP’s role in running a government in alliance with BJP.In just this year’s budget session in assembly the speaker assembly owing allegiance to BJP dared to expunge the remarks of the Chief Minister on article 370. Though for the first time in the history of the country, speaker assembly expunged the remarks of the Chief Minister but the speaker neither on his own offered to withdraw his controversial announced nor the Chief Minister or any other PDP minister dared to ask speaker assembly to withdraw his announcement on expunging of the remarks of the Chief Minister. The PDP did not respond to the animosity generated by PDP against Kashmiris even after six month long unrest during which hundred civilians fell to the bullets and thousands were blinded and instead Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti started saying “Kashmiriyat missing in Kashmir, prevailing in Jammu”but does not dare to speak even a word against the threat of Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I) to Rohingya muslims. Consequentially the brute surrender of PDP before BJP’s die hard insistence on implementation of RSS agenda rendered not only PDP but all the mainstream political parties irrelevant as shown by record low turnout in Srinagar bye polls. It is for the Modi led BJP government at the centre to take a serious view of the anger brewing up against the mainstream politics and take some corrective measures with focus over engagement with resistance leadership to revive the political process in the state.
