Promises never to be fulfilled

Kashmir is known as heaven on earth, but practically it has all along been a desert, a place torn apart by recurring agitation and leadership crises.

The now-downgraded Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir continues to face numerous unresolved issues, and for many of its people, there can be no sight of it ending. After a good gap, elections were finally held last year. People voted in large numbers, brimming with hope that long-standing issues of unemployment, bad roads, inadequate healthcare, and poor education would finally get resolved. National Conference won a decisive mandate in the Valley and people got ready to see meaningful change. One year on, little has changed on the ground, and the suffering of the people remains mostly unmitigated. The public continue to show little interest in approaching the Civil Secretariat either in Srinagar or Jammu, even after the return of an elected government. Hope has been replaced by disappointment. Most people are of the belief that nothing will change under the current regime.

A blame game now overshadows governance. The ruling party blames limitations imposed by the Lieutenant Governor for the lack of progress, while the latter has gone on record to explain that he retains the Home Department alone and the elected government should show its mettle in other areas. In this tug-of-war, it is the people who suffer as problems of daily life continue to mount. Political analysts say that though the powers of a UT cabinet are admittedly limited, models like Delhi—where Arvind Kejriwal drove big changes in Health, Education, and subsidised electricity—prove that good governance is possible. And if the National Conference leadership knew this was how things would be at the UT level, the critics argue, they should not have made promises they knew were beyond their administrative powers to fulfill. An elderly man from South Kashmir put it rather bluntly: “If a leader is strong, there can be no hurdle—people will get relief.” He rejected the government’s argument that constraints of being a UT are holding them back and asked why Omar Abdullah did not do better between 2008 and 2014 when, despite the special status under Articles 370, the administration faced one of the biggest unrests in 2010.

Many voters now believe that free electricity and one lakh jobs were promises impossible to fulfill. The UT faces severe financial constraints, and large-scale employment generation is all but impossible. As the government completes its first year with little to show, citizens fear the next four years would be spent blaming each other in Srinagar and New Delhi.

There is consensus across party lines among voters today that after Ghulam Nabi Azad and late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, J&K lost the kind of visionary leadership which could negotiate assertively with New Delhi. From 2002 to 2005, the coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed brought visible improvements in law and order and pushed some significant developmental projects—Islamic University of Science & Technology, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, the Mughal Road, Chenab Valley connectivity, advances in Tourism and allied sectors. From 2005 onwards, Ghulam Nabi Azad carried forward that momentum: introducing double-shift work systems to fast-track projects, creating eight new districts, establishing five medical colleges, constructing super-specialty hospitals in both regions, setting up district hospitals, building flyovers and developing the Tulip Garden. During those years, the public shared a closer and more trusting bond with the political leadership.

Today several regional leaders are trying to find political space but none of them has succeeded in building strong, credible platforms. The public is tired of repeated political disappointments. The rhetoric around Articles 370 and 35A has become irrelevant; people increasingly treat these issues as political history. At the same time, no party has succeeded in persuading New Delhi to restore statehood even as the Union Government continues to promise it. The youth of J&K are deeply frustrated. It is essential that the Government of India initiates concrete and empathetic steps for the welfare of the youth and overall development of the region. Political parties should desist from making unrealistic promises and instead pledge only that which is administratively and financially feasible. Both regions of J&K are facing hardships, and failure to address these could further widen the gap between the public and political leadership. New Delhi is fully aware of the economic limitations of the J&K, and lasting progress will not be possible without active and sustained support from the Union Government.

Author is a senior journalist and a human rights activist