Kashmir never ceases to surprise and the 2024 state assembly elections are no exception. We are on the way to Bijbehara in Anantnag district, tracking the campaign of Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti. As we approach the town, we get caught in a traffic jam and hear loud, animated voices. Large crowds are running in one direction. Our first instinct is to worry that there has been a blast or a terror attack which has suddenly disrupted life. Our driver smiles: ‘Don’t worry, the people are rushing to watch the final of the Bijbehara Premier League between the home side and Srinagar!” A local ground full of cricket-crazy fans is perhaps the most striking visual of a ‘Naya’ Kashmir.
There are other stand-out images too. We are at the historic Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar where excited shop-keepers tell us how a Burger King and Dominos franchise may soon be coming up in the area. Previously, shops in Lal Chowk, commercial hub of the capital city, would down their shutters whenever the separatist Hurriyat called for a bandh. In the last five years, shops have remained open till way past sunset. At our hotel in Srinagar, the owner proudly tells us how 2023-24 has been his best business year yet. During Covid, he had planned to sell off his property but now is delighted with the tourist windfall. From better highway connectivity to improved power supply, Kashmir seems on the right track.
It doesn’t take long to snap out of the joyful reverie. We are at Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar. It’s Friday and namaaz has just ended. In the past, stone-pelting after Friday prayers was a recurrent feature here. Not any more. Amidst a strong police bandobast, people are filing out quietly from the mosque. This too is a reassuring sight. All seems well until I switch on the camera and begin talking to the crowd. Within minutes, angry voices start hectoring me. “Tell us, why is Mirwaiz Farooq (the Hurriyat leader) under house arrest if all is well in Kashmir,” says one elderly man. “Just because we are silent, doesn’t mean we accept what is happening. Delhi has tried to punish us by reducing our state to a union territory ,” says another enraged voice. “We live in fear, if we speak out we will be jailed,” screams a burly-looking man. Before matters slip totally out of control, a helpful Jammu and Kashmir police officer escorts us out. The officer reminds us that while the separatist groups have been politically marginalized, the separatist mindset is still alive.
It is against this backdrop of colliding images that the Kashmir Valley is voting in an assembly election for the first time in a decade. It’s a much anticipated election, one which could well see record turnouts. It is almost as if those who saw stones and bullets as the only resolution to the Kashmir dispute have realized the power of a vote is a far more effective way to register their protest. Political parties too have understood that there is little space for rigid positions in the altered post-Article 370 abrogation scenario. Which might explain why an Omar Abdullah has finally decided to contest from two constituencies after initially claiming that he would stay away from the race. While another former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti may have opted out of the poll battle, she has pushed her feisty daughter Iltija into contesting for the first time. While the BJP has only a token presence in the Valley, the Congress is hoping that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ message will resonate strongly in in a political milieu in genuine need of a healing touch.
But it isn’t just the mainstream Valley parties, dominated by political dynasts, who are being watched closely this time. The real headline-grabbers are the smaller parties and independents who are looking to disrupt the rules of the political game. In May this year, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, better knows as Engineer Rashid, a maverick independent candidate, pulled off a shock win in the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in North Kashmir by defeating the more fancied Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone by more than two lakh votes. Rashid has been in Tihar jail since 2019, charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a terror funding case. ‘Tihar ka badla vote se,” was his war-cry during the Lok Sabha election campaign. Now, Rashid, who insists he is innocent, has been granted bail for three weeks to campaign and his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is contesting 34 seats. He has even stitched a ‘strategic’ alliance with the banned Jamaat-e-Islami, a move that has raised several eyebrows. Independent candidates backed by Jamaat in partnership with a UAPA detenu, is this an attempt to muddy the Dal Lake waters by challenging the dominant players, especially the National Conference-Congress alliance?
The Centre would like us to believe that fierce multi-cornered contests are a sign of a robust democracy in action. In a sense, this is arguably Kashmir’s most participatory election since 1977 when Sheikh Abdullah made a triumphant comeback against the odds. The decades of poll boycotts, low voter turnouts, allegations of rigging are being replaced by a far more energized and competitive election.
And yet, the outward enthusiasm conceals an inner turmoil. India’s only Muslim majority state downsized to a union territory, an assembly with powers even less than a municipality, a delimitation process that has increased Jammu’s representation at the cost of the Valley, an administration that is controlled by an unelected Lieutenant-Governor who is an agent of the Centre. Kashmir is still trapped in a frozen turbulence where no one really wants to break the status quo and unleash true democratic fervor for fear of the uncontrollable.
In 2003, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s rousing slogan of ‘Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat’ (inclusivity, humanitarianism, democracy) had enthused many Kashmir-watchers. Kashmiriyat was buried when Pandits were forced to flee their homes in the 1990s. Insaniyat died when so many innocents were trapped between the guns of the terrorists and the excesses of state power. Jamhooriyat has been in ICU for years with little space for free expression. Unfortunately, one high-decibel election won’t change the realities of a blood-soaked Valley.
Post-script: Since I started the column with a story of hope revolving around cricket, here is another cricket nugget from Kashmir. We are talking to the crowd in Bijbehara and ask them who their favorite cricketer is. Some of them mention Virat Kohli, a few plump for Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma. But more than a few mention Pakistani batsman Babar Azam. In Kashmir, the lines do cross beyond the Line of Control!