Srinagar @ just 30%

The voter turn out for the second phase of 2024 Assembly elections was recorded at around 57%. For District Srinagar it was around 30%. Given the changed circumstances, a much higher voter turn out was expected. That did not happen, and it leaves a question for the political leadership, and the politically conscious people; time to reflect.

The background to these elections, for the people living in this geography, is the total political disempowerment. In fact disempowerment is a very mild expression for where Kashmiri Muslims find themselves as a political collective.

Against this backdrop, if half the population stayed away from voting, something is amiss. Srinagar district, particularly the core population, presents an even more curious case. What can explain such a response?

The worthwhile answers can only come if someone undertakes a worthwhile research study of it. Government, and its research departments, have no interest in this, so why should they do it? As a people we have rarely shown any interest in data gathering, its dispassionate analysis, and then employing the results for some collective action. That is not who we are, and that is one of the reasons we get carried away, and resort to short cuts, in an excited state of mind – frenzy.

Before conducting such a study, if at all we do it, we can begin by arranging the thoughts on it in some order.

First, is the presumption that Kashmiri Muslims feel completely disempowered, even threatened, in need of a review? Do some of us, based on some interactions, make too wide an assumptions? May be people have some other set of concerns and those override the general sense of disempowerment? This question may sound little annoying, but if we really search for honest answers, we shouldn’t be predisposed in the first place. In fact, connecting to people at the level of their personal, immediate, and day to day needs is the real strength of any political party, or a community leadership.

Second, are our minds sedated? Have we lost the capacity to understand the value of small acts that can yield substantial dividends. Do we still think that how is my vote going to make a difference? Do we still think that walking upto a polling booth, standing in a queue, is too much of a trouble, and not worth taking? Also, are we emotionally trapped, because we have invested too much into the idea of Boycott for all these years?

Third, does our cynicism refuse to die. The way we have seen Kashmir based political parties trade off for petty gains, over riding the people’s sensibilities, a thick layer of cynicism seems to have set in. This is not without reason. They way National Conference, this time around, spoke about keeping BJP out, is no different than what PDP did in 2014. But what PDP finally did, was a devastating blow to people’s growing sense of utility in the importance of electoral politics. Surprising, unfortunately, and tragically PDP still tries to explain the logic behind that North pole-South Pole alliance. What can be more suspecting for a people who are again told to vote in numbers to keep BJP out.

Fourth, the least people would have expected from the Kashmir based political parties was to come together and fight this election for the sake of the people and not their respective parties. That didn’t happen, and that was the sign that National Conference thinks of itself as National Conference, PDP as PDP; people come later.

Fifth, in such a critical phase of our political history, the two main political parties, NC and PDP, introduced their third generation. The two could have waited for another five years! I have nothing against the children of politicians joining politics. If they have the capacity to do it, why stop them. The abuse of “Khandani Raaj” is too petty a thing to be even commented upon. But by bringing in children, the smallness of ends was reflected at a time when we needed an unqualified sense of sacrifice for a cause that is too big, too profound.

Sixth, the political parties have turned into social media clubs. Kashmir needs a political party, a political leadership, that knocks each door and shakes every hand. Kashmir needs a human connect. A process of dehumanisation thrust on us can not be countered through YouTube. The access to people is not through Facebook but face; let the eyes meet. At this juncture we don’t need rhetoric, we don’t need argumentation, we don’t need flags and slogans, we don’t even need manifestoes. Kashmiri Muslims need a political leadership that can connect at human level. Any political party, any political leader, that connects to people without expecting them to be voters! Can someone, at least copy Rahul Gandhi; Safar e Kashmir?

Last, an unhindered, unqualified and a sincere apology for all the political decisions taken by these parties at different times, is long awaited. Except this one man, Agha Ruhullah Mehdi, none speaks about it clearly. Can Omar Abdullah as the leader of National Conference, follow his own colleague? There is no harm in being truthful, and revisiting the entire political journey with an open mind. It can only open up new pathways.

Kashmiris, as a people, are not going to end if this election throws up a result contrary to their expectations. Someone, at this time, needs to look beyond election time, and way beyond voting. A democratic expression is neither time bound, nor limited to one act. It is not even space specific. There must be bigger spaces in Indian where questions can be raised. But before we raise questions, there are questions to face. Leave aside something like BJP or RSS, a common Hindu has some questions about us as Muslims. We cannot shy away from those questions. The political leadership that wants to represent democratic aspirations of the Kashmiri Muslims, must inform itself on that count.