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| Battle lines drawn between separatists, mainstreamers | | | NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
JAMMU, Nov 2: Following the decision of the Chief of Peoples' Conference, Sajjad Lone,that he too would campaign for total boycott of the forthcoming Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir,it indicates the the poll will present a picture of tussle between the anit-election elements and the forces that not only favour peaceful completion of the poll process but their participation in it.Those who have jumped in the poll fray have done so to gain power and those who oppose it want to gain Azadi.And the National Conference President,Omar Abdullah,has rightly told the separatists to "allow us to run the Government and let them fight for Azadi.'What Omar has said is full of practical wisdom.The National Conference won the 1990 and 1996 election and formed the Government.It remained in power for running the state administration.Whether the Government under the National Conference,especially under Farooq Abdullah,made any significant contribution to the development of the state or not is not important.What is important is the way the National Conference enjoyed power and the separatists enjoyed freedom for fighting for Azadi.
There are political parties that are destined to rule.There are political groups that are destined to sit in the opposition.The Congress,the National Conference and the PDP fall in the group of those born to rule.Against this the BJP,the Panthers Party,the leftists,and other smaller political groups are destined to sit in the opposition.Getting a chance to share power Harsh Dev Singh and Yashpal Kundal of the Panthers Party broke the tradition.They could do so because of the political coalition which seems to have established its roots in Jammu and Kashmir.And if one talks about the separatists they are destined to engage themselves in raking up the Kashmir issue.They have been doing so and they are accused of "raping" the issue beyond repair.
And as the battle lines between the separatists and the mainstream political leaders become sharper every attempt will be made by the former to wreck the election in order to provide sustenance to the Kashmir issue.And every trick will be played by the mainstream political leaders for either retaining power or for regaining it.If the Congress and the PDP win majority of seats and the two form the coalition Government it will be a sort of retention of power for them.If the National Conference manages to get the majority it will be for the organisation power regained.One thing is certain the state administration has decided to deal firmly with those trying to disrupt the poll process or create a scare among the voters who would prefer staying indoors to taking any risk.By doing it the State administration cannot be held guilty of suppression of freedom of expression nor it can be blamed for assisting mainstream political parties in securing power.Field reports say that voters are interested in exercising their right of franchise but they are scared of the power of TV cameras saying that once these cameras show their faces while voting they could invite trouble for themselves.Many among them say "if the Government bans filming of the polling scenes we are ready to vote."But the ban may not be allowed by the Election Commission.This way the separatists boycott call can be challenged by the voters and not by the Government.The Government can,at the most,bring the polling stations under heavy security cover but the security forces cannot escort the voters to the polling booths.The mainstream political leaders are worried about the polling percentage. These were the fears that had forced the Election Commission to delay its decision on announcing the poll schedule.It has thrown a challenge to the separatists by fixing the poll schedule.Hence it will be seen whether the mainstream politicians win the battle against the separatists as they did in 1990,1996 and 2002. or loe their face. |
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