HIGH STAKES BATTLE

AS J&K VOTES FOR AN ASSEMBLY AFTER 10 YEARS, THE BJP SEEKS ELECTORAL SUPREMACY, WHILE VALLEY LEADERS FIGHT FOR THEIR IDENTITY AND AUTONOMY

- RAJ CHENGAPPA WITH MOAZUM MOHAMMAD

It is the season of plenty in Kashmir. Shimmering gold fields of paddy, ripe for harvest, interspersed with neat rows of saffron corms. Apple orchards laden with fruit, along the highway to Pulwama district, 50 km from Srinagar. A tapestry ringed by impassive grey Himalayan massifs and a sparkling blue sky with tufts of pristine white clouds floating by. It is not just Nature that is holding out hope and promise in the Valley. The wind of democratic and political change is currently sweeping across Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), where assembly polls are being held after a hiatus of 10 long years. The election for the 90 assembly seats43 in Jammu and 47 in Kashmir-is being held in three phases from September 18 to October 1. The results will be out on October 8, alongside those of Haryana.

In Tral, hometown of Burhan Wani, the separatist Hizbul Mujahideen chief who died young, bullets and blood will no longer determine the future, the ballot box and barnstorming politicians will. Wani's death in a firefight with security forces in 2016 had sparked off a fierce round of protests that left 90 civilians dead. Now, a much-mellowed Mehbooba Mufti, who had presided over that disturbing period as chief minister of the erstwhile state till the fall of her government in 2018, is holding a rally at Tral's main bus station that is crammed with white taxis honking for passengers. Mehbooba is president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had entered into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the 2014 assembly election, only to end in a bitter parting of ways four years later.