Amid cheers from over 100 workers at a private, heavily-guarded garden in south Kashmir’s Doru Shahabad, Congress State president and former minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir beseeches listeners to come out in large numbers and vote for him on April 12. “The atmosphere is not conducive for the elections and there is uncertainty at every point, and under such circumstances it is difficult to reach out to people,” Mir tells BLink.
This is a week before the April 9 bypoll for a Lok Sabha (LS) seat in Srinagar; April 12 is when Anantnag will vote for its Parliamentary seat. And none of the constituencies has seen a big rally or a road show. Campaigning has been mostly confined within the walls of party offices, State-owned guesthouses and even residences of party sympathisers.
“Where is the election?” asks a fruit seller in Anantnag’s Lal Chowk. “Are you seeing any banners, or any poll-related slogans? These elections are an eyewash. Who wants elections under such circumstances?” he continues, referring to the massive Burhan Wani aftermath in the Valley.
Getting back to normalcy has occupied the ordinary Kashmiri’s mind to the extent that very few seem interested in the bypolls. The Anantnag seat fell vacant when Mehbooba Mufti resigned on July 4, 2016, in order to assume office as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The Srinagar seat was vacated by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Tariq Hameed Karra, who resigned from both the LS and the party in September 2016.
Amid security concerns, Mir, the National Conference (NC)-Congress candidate for Anantnag, was forced to cancel a rally in Pulwama. And former chief minister and NC patron Farooq Abdullah, contesting from Srinagar, cancelled his visit to Budgam after the death of three civilians in police action to disperse stone-pelting protesters near an encounter site. Tasaduq, the PDP candidate for Anantnag and also the current chief minister’s brother, doesn’t want his supporters to risk their lives on election day. “Don’t risk your lives for my victory. First and foremost, protect yourself,” is what he has been reported saying amid threats from militants and boycott calls from separatists.
While no one stands to gain from the current situation, political rivalry seems unchanged. Omar Abdullah, former chief minister and NC leader, is one of the first to blame the BJP-PDP alliance for making things difficult for the Opposition. He calls it “concerted efforts to discourage” the front from campaigning in south Kashmir. While conceding that the ’90s were the worst period in the Valley, Omar says that it is “the responsibility of the Election Commission to give us an environment” in which parties can campaign and the “people can vote”.
One major concern for political parties and their candidates in the elections has been the youth of the Valley — the impressionable minds that have seen much bloodshed and turmoil since the killing of Wani in July 2016. “We are yet to come out of 2016... people view us with suspicion, they are angry, they are alienated, they are fed up of the present government. Under such conditions, we cannot go and ask them to vote,” says NC leader Farooq Ahmad Ganai. He adds that the “elections were imposed on us; no ground situation was taken into consideration.”
Fear factor
The increasing number of militant attacks and protests in the Valley has created fear among the supporters of political parties, prompting some of them to maintain a safe distance from the campaigns.
“I have to live, you never know what will happen. There are people watching us — which party we support and which party we vote for. It is better to stay out of it,” said a PDP worker in Anantnag.
Fresh tensions have erupted in almost all parts of the Valley after the March 28 killing of three civilians in Budgam district’s Chadoora area. These incidents have created more fear among party workers, as well as voters. Last week, militants ransacked the house of a high-ranking police official in Kulgam district. A sub-inspector’s house in Shopian district was also raided by insurgents. And in yet another case, armed men torched the car of a prisons department officer in Budgam.
With the police under attack, candidates are reluctant to take the show outdoors. “We cannot go for open campaigning. Both the Centre and the EC have failed us,” says Ganai.
Meanwhile, J&K chief electoral officer Shantmanu is concentrating on the deployment of additional forces to ensure smooth polling. He told BLink that the EC has asked for 254 companies of paramilitary forces. “Yes, there has been a sharp increase in the incidents of violence and it has affected the campaign,” he says.
The future of democracy looks most uncertain in the current scenario, where candidates and voters have to tread with caution as they head to the polling booths. No one can tell which route is free from danger.
Tawqeer Hussain is a Delhi-based journalist