‘NC, PDP Should Think Beyond Party Politics’

KL Report

SRINAGAR

Political observers in Kashmir believe that rather than looking at Congress or BJP, Peoples Democratic Party should look for each other and if these join hands major problems in Kashmir will get solved.

A Kashmir University Professor told CNS that Indian politicians and analysts mainly from BJP have been repeating that election in Kashmir is a vote for India and its democracy though the main players, NC and PDP, believe people have voted for entirely different reasons.

“The results have therefore provided these two parties (NC and PDP) a chance to prove everybody wrong and really help the resolution of Kashmir, but only if they come together.

“It is imperative for these parties to form a coalition if they want to prove their sub-nationalist character and their sincerity toward the concerns of Kashmiri people,” he said.

A senior journalist said that together NC and PDP have the requisite numbers to pass their autonomy or self-rule documents in a democratically elected legislature. The parties have the opportunity to prove those people wrong who believe Delhi must first give consent to maneuver these documents from one table to another not to talk of extracting a solution from them.

“Without the compulsion of taking along Congress, already vanquished by BJP in Jammu, the two parties won’t have to play second fiddle to a centrist party. This will clearly propel the parties beyond electoral politics and give them a larger canvass to work on. It would also keep a tab on the bureaucrats who don’t feel accountable to the state governments as they enjoy the patronage of centrist parties,” he said.

A lawyer said that there is a feeling at the ground that India is largely holding on to Kashmir by dividing leadership of all hues.

“What an opportunity to stretch the hand for the grand unification and grand reconciliation. People will feel relaxed and a new chapter will be added in the history of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

A trader said that majority of the people in Jammu have voted on religious or regional lines, particularly the religious lines as a thanks giving to BJP’s communal policy.

“The saffron party has convinced them of Kashmiris-take-the-major-share-of-the-pie fiction and portrayed both the PDP and NC as anti-Jammu. A Kashmiri coalition breaking that myth would be a big political achievement,” he said adding that if the National Conference really believes the PDP is a creation of New Delhi they have the opportunity to expose them in the assembly on the basis of issues rather than align with Congress or Bhartiya Janata party.

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