A VOTE AGAINST VIOLENCE

As Jammu and Kashmir prepares to hold its first assembly elections in a decade, building a cross-party consensus for ensuring peace and stability can be as radical a step as the voiding of Article 370 was five years ago

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

Elections are necessary in democracies, because the core strength of democracy lies in participatory politics. Today, Jammu and Kashmir is preparing to hold its first assembly elections in a decade, in a strategic-sociopolitical environment that underwent a radical transformation after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

The big question now: how can political parties help make the elections free and fair, ensuring that voters overcome challenges rooted in historical reasons that had pitted a sizeable section of the population against the Indian state?

The polls will define what a vote for democracy means in Jammu and Kashmir today. In the past five years, there has been a sharp swing in the rhetoric of political parties in Jammu and Kashmir— from a vocal unwillingness to fight the polls unless Article 370 was restored, to demands for statehood and, finally, expressing willingness to participate in the polls. Some politicians even concede that boycotting the district development council polls in 2020 was a mistake.

This demonstrates two points. First, the Indian state matters. Second, the political class—including the BJP, the Congress, the National Conference and the Peoples’ Democratic Party—understands that for the common man bijli, sadak, paani (electricity, road, water) matter. Hospitals, schools and colleges matter. Roads and infrastructure matter. Employment matters.

Politicians, as most Kashmiris would agree, have not historically done well when it comes to meeting their expectations. Hence, the apprehension among voters about whether the upcoming polls would bring much-needed relief in their day-to-day lives or just be a vehicle for vote bank politics that would skirt around issues of development and governance.