Separatists’ poll boycott call may fall flat

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir is yet to get into a real election mode, but the mainstream parties are readying to lock horns in all the six Lok Sabha constituencies of the restive state.

While the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and its former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest alone, the Congress and the National Conference (NC) are likely to have a “tactical alliance” to field their candidates for all the six seats--Srinagar, Jammu, Anantnag, Udhampur, Baramulla and Ladakh. Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Movement (JKPM), the party floated by former IAS officer Shah Faesal recently, and Sajad Gani Lone’s People’s Conference (PC) like other parties would also try their luck in these elections.

The separatists, on the other hand, are planning to repeat their poll boycott diktat. Their plea for asking people to stay from voting is: any election held within the parameters of the Indian Constitution cannot be a substitute to the promised plebiscite. They feel uncomfortable with the fact that the Centre and even some analysts have in the past interpreted the participation of the people in the elections as a sign of their endorsement of the “Indian rule over the disputed state”.

Nevertheless, it is true that the separatists’ boycott calls have found many takers in the past, mainly in urban Kashmir--be it the elections for the Lok Sabha, the state Assembly or local bodies. The Kashmir watchers say that it was mainly because of the separatists’ boycott diktat and non-participation of the mainstream parties--NC, PDP, CPI(M) and the BSP--that the BJP emerged as the largest party in the Jammu division while the Congress did marginally better in the Kashmir Valley whereas it were mainly the Independent candidates who carried the day in the recently held civic polls.

Also, the boycott call by several mainstream political parties and separatists, coupled with threats by militants, helped both the BJP and the Congress in a major way as 76 and 78 candidates from the national parties were elected unopposed. A total of 75 Independents, including those backed by the PC, won the elections uncontested in the Kashmiri Valley where the boycott call of separatists was a success.

Keeping the “bitter” experience in view, PDP and NC, two major players in the Valley’s mainstream politics, have now realised that the election boycott is a bad idea. They are also trying to make the people understand that their staying away from the democratic exercise will only benefit what they allege the divisive and anti-Kashmiri forces. The authorities see in their entreaty a good sign and something that would leave an impact on the rate of electoral participation.

They are also hoping that the separatists’ probable poll boycott diktat will be less effective on ground this time, given the fact that the government is keeping a tight rein on them. Over the past few weeks, hundreds of separatists, including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik and the entire leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, have been put behind bars; some of them formally detained under the state’s stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). More are likely to be taken into preventive custody in the coming days to thwart attempts by the separatist camp to reach out to the people with their boycott edict, the official sources said.

However, the separatists have taken their political war to cyberspace while outmanoeuvring the security curbs imposed on their movement. They made a full use of social networking platforms to reach out to the people and be heard both at home and abroad. Those still out are likely to hit the repeat button.