Kashmir Life (KL): Congress party’s performance in the District Development Council elections was dismal. Is Congress relevant in Jammu and Kashmir?
Ghulam Ahmad Mir (GAM): The situation in which these polls were suddenly announced only Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP knew about it. The delimitation of constituencies in these polls was also done without taking political parties on board. The delimitation was done by BJP in connivance with the official administration. The BJP did nothing because the Jammu and Kashmir administration played their role on the ground. Congress was also faced with another dilemma to come up with good candidates, unlike the other parties who put up anybody and everybody with no ground base.
KL: Does that mean that India’s grand old party of India didn’t have leaders to fight these polls?
GAM: There is a difference between a candidate and an eligible candidate. Eligible candidate means somebody who has a ground presence. We needed such people who were capable, not the fill in the blanks candidates.
KL: Over the past six years, Congress has not been doing well in J&K. There have been a series of poor performances: The 2014 assembly polls, 2019 parliament polls and now these polls. What is the reason?
GAM: This is the first time in the past 70 years that the administration became a political party’s off-shoot. There was a crackdown in these polls. It has never happened before. Otherwise, people had no problem in connecting and voting for the Congress party.
KL: Are you alleging that the bureaucracy acted to favour the BJP? Did they not do so when you were in power?
This story is from the January 31, 2021 edition of Kashmir Life.
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This story is from the January 31, 2021 edition of Kashmir Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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