Going ahead with the plan of holding municipal and panchayat elections shows the intents of the Narendra Modi led BJP government at the centre to blow up into pieces the identity of two largest regional political parties National Conference and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Jammu & Kashmir and rest of the states in India. For the first time both National Conference and Peoples’ Democratic Party find themselves at cross roads as it is for the first time that central government has not shown any respect to their advices on holding any election in the state. The incumbent central government headed by Narendra Modi is taking all decisions against the bigger public sentiment in Kashmir leaving both National Conference and PDP fuming . The much bigger challenge for both National Conference and PDP is the unending political chaos which has become main hurdle for them in re-establishing the writ of mainstream politics in Kashmir valley and BJP’s plans of imposing decisions of its own conveniences is leaving no scope for consolidation of mainstream political forces in Kashmir valley . Governor SP Malik and Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam saying that the civic polls and Article 35-A were two different things shows the intent of the incumbent central government to discredit both National Conference and PDP. Though the worsening law and order situation and the unwillingness of people from local populations to join the ongoing poll fray in Kashmir valley vindicates the stand of poll boycott taken by the National Conference and PDP but an election exercise almost similar to the farcical elections held during the reigns of G M Bakhshi and G M Sadiq led regimes shows that the incumbent central government is not bothered about the credibility of the democratic institutions but interested in imposing decisions of its own convenience in the state.
Fielding migrant Kashmiri pandits in presence of poll boycott by the two largest mainstream political parties National Conference and PDP is an indication that Modi government plans to impose the will of one minority community over the majority community in the only muslim majority state of the country and such unilateral election exercises are bound to deepen the crisis of the restoration of peace of peace and order in Kashmir valley.
BJP fielding migrant Kashmir Pandits as its candidates shows the intensity of saffron party’s political bankruptcy in Kashmir and failure of the saffron party in getting even a single candidate into the poll fray in 177 wards of Kashmir valley shows the failure of both the saffron party and as well as architects of the present futile election exercise in the state. National Conference and PDP are though blamed all the mess created in Kashmir so for but the mess now created by the incumbent central government headed by Narendra Modi is only deepening the crisis of political alienation and public anger in Kashmir valley. Modi government may find itself in more severe troubles after the municipal and panchayat elections as the takeover of the control of civic bodies by migrant Kashmiri Pandits would intensify the alienation and anger in Kashmir . Fielding migrant Kashmiri pandits in presence of poll boycott by the two largest mainstream political parties National Conference and PDP is an indication that Modi government plans to impose the will of one minority community over the majority community in the only muslim majority state of the country and such unilateral election exercises are bound to deepen the crisis of the restoration of peace of peace and order in Kashmir valley.
