New Year, New Challenges

Like 2024, the new year 2025 will be equally important for Jammu and Kashmir in all respects. The 2024 paved way for holding of assembly elections after 10 long years and then formation of an elected government. 2025 will be very crucial for the new elected government to get itself strengthened at political, administrative and governance levels.  Can it get more powers, will the statehood be restored in the new year and then can the National Conference ( NC) government seriously start delivering on the promises its leaders made during the polls?  All sorts of  challenges will be  there and have to be tackled accordingly.

The significant panchayat and municipal elections are likely to be held some time after the winter in the new year. The necessary ongoing or yet to begin  exercises have to be completed in time so that the polls are held in 2025. Like assembly elections these local bodies polls are expected to generate lot of excitement and public involvement. The panchayat elections are to be held on non-party basis, while the urban local bodies (ULBs) polls on party basis.

At the fag end of 2024, some developments also occurred which can have some kind of  effects in new year also. The reservation policy issue figured in a way which the ruling National Conference (NC) might not have liked.

Prior to assembly polls,  NC in its manifesto had promised to have a re-look on the reservation policy. Subsequently, the NC government formed a sub-committee to look into the matter and submit the report. In the  meantime, the NC MP Syed Aga Ruhullah led a protest by students outside the residence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar. The protest was joined by leaders of some opposition parties including PDP. Later the five representative of students held a meeting with the Chief Minister, who assured them that the issue will be sorted out within six months. Chief Minister later posted on X, “Today, I met the representatives of the Open Merit Students Association. The beauty of democracy is the right to be heard & dialogue in a spirit of mutual cooperation. I have made certain requests of them & given them a number of assurances. This channel of communication will remain open without any intermediaries or hangers on.”

Some said that the last lines of the post  were a snub to Ruhullah. The MP came under severe criticism by his colleagues in the party, who alleged that by holding the protest he provided a plateform to the rejected opposition politicians. Later,  Ruhallah as member parliament convened a DISHA meeting in which only one MLA from his party took part. Chief Minister in the same day held a meeting of his party MLAs.

Following the August 5, 2019 developments, Syed Aga Ruhallah has been advocating a united face of all political parties in Kashmir on important public issues. He leading the protest and his invitation to opposition leaders to join it is seen in political circles as an effort in that direction. But the top NC leadership says that opposition, rejected by people in assembly polls, should not be made relevant by such moves. Everybody in NC - from a senior leader to a worker - knows that there is no scope to go against the wish or directive of top most leadership in the party. Any such move is seen as revolt and is always crushed with an iron hand. History is witness to it. Not only in NC, even this holds true for other parties including the PDP.

Has Ruhullah learnt a lesson or not from the episode is to be seen? But surely he may not like the opposition parties to  describe his protest as  “drama bazi” even as their leaders joined it. The opposition says the issue must be taken up in assembly and parliament instead on roads. PDP says that Chief Minister must resolve the issue at the earliest. According to the party President Mehbooba Mufti,  actually the Chief Minister does not want to take a decision on the reservation issue. “Chief Minister knows that since the matter is in the court also and within six months the court verdict will come. So he is avoiding a decision by his government for his political interests,” she said.

Political parties have been saying that they are not against the reservation but no injustice should be done with anybody in the name of reservation. The central government had announced scheduled tribe status  to paharis and some other sections of the society this year. The move was expected to benefit the BJP in the assembly polls. But it did not happen. There is a feeling in political circles that Paharis and Gujjar and Bakerwal communities did not vote for BJP the way the party leadership was expecting. Majority of their votes went to NC. Dealing the reservation policy issue is a tough and  tricky task for the NC government now.

The non-inclusion of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s birth anniversary and Martyrs’ Day in the list of holidays for 2025 came as a setback to NC government. So the reaction from NC was also strong. Reports say that the elected government had recently recommended the inclusion of the two holidays in the list but the Lieutenant Governor administration did not agree. These holidays were discontinued by the administration in 2019 and since then NC is demanding their inclusion in the list. NC says that once the statehood is restored, the two holidays will be back in the list.

In 2025,  NC will have to do lot of ground work at the political and government levels to keep itself at the top and effectively relevant.  On the other hand, the opposition parties too would like to back on the political scene. So the happenings in the new year will be keenly watched at various levels.

Author is senior editor, Greater Kashmir