JK PANORAMA VOL 4 ISSUE 5 MAY

democratic course against all odd has not
gone without appreciation. This is what
many prefer to call Modi's India. There are
fault lines staring at every step within the
nation, and the verdict while having shown
complete saffron colour in most parts of the
country, it has also shown political.
Ideological and economic divisions.
How it plays out in Jammu and Kashmir
where voters have given a split verdict. The
Bhartiya Janta Party has reigned supreme in
the Hindu plains and the cold desert region
of Ladakh. That the victory margins of the
BJP candidates this time were huge is rooted
in the fact that a volcano was waiting to
erupt, and it erupted. There was so much of
anger amongst the people who voted more
than 70 per cent in the two constituencies of
Jammu that they gave vent to it in their
votes. Their choice of Modi in the elections
was deliberate. Since Modi is the iconic
figure of the saffron party, it won. There is
no other reason. In Jammu region the BJP
sought votes in the name of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in Municipal polls too. That
means that, unless or until they feature Modi
in their campaign, Jammu cannot hope to
win even the Municipal polls.
This has a great advantage that Jammu
stands solidly behind one leader as it trusts
his abilities to deliver on the promises. No
doubt muscular narrative formed core of the
campaign that swept the minds of the voters
who believed that Pakistan that has flashed
almost permanently on their radar as their
tormentor has been taught a lesson by Modi,
but there was something more than that too.
It was that Jammu wanted to avenge its
assumed humiliation in all sectors, and
simultaneously make a point that it has
linked its future with the rising political
power of the country.
The flip side however is that such an attitude
in the elections makes the political party that
swamped all other rivals to take the voters
for granted. Jammu has had an experience of
it, quite a bitter one. This is also a way of
not taking the past into calculations and
blind faith in the future. How far the voters
were correct in doing so would be known in
the days, weeks and months to come. For
the time being Jammu plains have turned
saffron.
Jammu's hilly areas have not been that
unanimous in going with the saffron party.
For two reasons – one the demography of
the hills where Muslims dominate, and the
Hindus who have their own problem of
identity crisis, voted differently. Their task
was made easier by the National Conference
and PDP in the elections. This absence made
the people to look forward to the divisions
as a solution rather than bridging the same.
Congress, in any case, fought these elections
half-heartedly. This has serious
repercussions in the future elections,
especially when the Assembly polls would
be announced and held in the state.
Congress is nearing its burial site because of
its divisions and groupism. When NC and
PDP and Congress, though quite decimated
in the aftermath of the general elections, will
fight Assembly elections on their respective
symbols, they would be staring at the repeat
of the 2014 in hills of Jammu, where if they
fight jointly can win at least 10 seats out of
13 in Chenab Valley and Pir panjal region.
Kashmir has voted for National Conference
in the parliamentary elections. The initial
review of the segment wise voting has given
a clear edge to the party of Abdullah's.
Maintaining that picture is not sufficient for
National Conference to form government on
its own. The voting patterns and the public
mood would be different in the Assembly
elections. And by the time the state goes to
Assembly polls, much of the anger that the
voters, howsoever small their number was in
the parliamentary polls, would have faded ,
if not gone altogether. Then, there are
forces with their individual following and
political experience that sided with National
Conference or its rivals, particularly in
north Kashmir, that will also take their share
of votes. Where does it place the Kashmir
politics? It is time to ponder.
07 May 2019