Why Hurriyat should fight elections

Why Hurriyat should fight elections: Thus do I defend my argument countered by critics
STATE CRAFT BY HAPPYMON JACOB
I would like to write this week’s column in answer those who responded to my article entitled “Mirwaiz Should learn from Prachanda” which appeared in Greater Kashmir (April 16, 2008). Apart from the responses published in this newspaper, many responses were emailed to me as well. Needless to say, I found the responses deeply engaging and indicative of a commendable spirit of political discourse and intellectual inquiry that exists on Jammu and Kashmir. Having said that let me respond to some of the points that have been raised by my critics. The argument that received most attention was that the Hurriyat Conference Chief should learn from Prachanda and fight elections in the coming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. It was pointed out by many that there is no comparison between the two because their political contexts are entirely different from each other. In answer, let me say, that first of all, when analyzing societies and the politics and life therein, there can be no true comparison at all – no two circumstances are the same. That’s a mere methodological point: but far from it, my argument in the above-mentioned article only said that lessons need to be drawn from the Maoists’ experiment with democracy and peaceful transition in Nepal. In order to evaluate that argument, let us, for a moment, look at the objectives of the politics of resistance in Nepal and Kashmir. They are both subaltern in nature and the deliverance of the oppressed people is the aim. The question is: what is the method to achieve that? My argument is that the method of violence is infeasible in today’s circumstances, and also because the Indian state will easily sustain the pangs of militancy in Kashmir for many more years. It has done so in the past and things are only better today. Hurriyat, of course, shuns violence as well as mainstream politics. Is non-participation in mainstream politics by the Hurriyat the way ahead to bring peace to Kashmir? How long can the Hurriyat continue to stay away from it? I argue that shunning mainstream politics will further shrink the political space of the Hurriyat as mainstream parties such as the PDP are already encroaching on the traditional dissident space. This leads me to the next question whether the Hurriyat actually wants to ‘capture state power’? Is the Hurriyat political in nature? Is it a political organization with policy prescriptions about how to run the state, and vision for the Kashmiri society? The Hurriyat Conference does have a political vision for Jammu and Kashmir which the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq calls “The United States of Kashmir” formula, which does not ask for independence from India. More significantly, the Hurriyat has now started raising issues such as power shortage and other related governance issues. If this is not about politics and governance, what is it about? Call it ‘capturing of state power’ or serving the people, what it makes the Hurriyat is an organization that the Kashmiris have a lot of faith and hope in, which they think will one day rise to the political occasion. The third important argument raised by many readers has been whether the Kashmiris can actually trust the Indian government with elections in the state. That is an important question given the not-so-clean history of elections in J&K. The history tells us that many an election in the state was manipulated by the Congress government in Delhi in collusion with the ruling regime in J&K: no arguments with that. Having said that one must also admit that the 2002 elections to the J&K state assembly was free and fair - freer and fairer than elections in many constituencies in mainland India even if that is no yardstick to go by. More importantly, even though the BJP and the National Conference by virtue of being in control of the Central and state governments respectively could have manipulated the results to their favor, did not chose to do so. And the people of the state did not listen to the boycott calls by the militants when the municipal elections in the state were conducted in 2005. These are reflective of the changes in views on elections in the state by the Central government and the people of J&K. This new and welcome change in the attitude of the Central government vis-à-vis elections in J&K has also to do with the end of ‘Congressism’ in Delhi and the rise of coalition politics. One party rule can bring in arrogance and obstinacy, and that was precisely what the Congress led governments of the yester years were suffering from. Political realities have changed in Delhi ever since and this is good news for Kashmir. The fourth criticism was the following: what if the Hurriyat win elections? What next? Will things improve after that? Will they not be puppets in the hands of the Central government? This is a legitimate fear, given, again, by past experiences. There are two aspects to it. One is the fear of political interference from Delhi and the other is by the bureaucracy including the intelligence agencies. The former fear should now be taken lightly. That the Central government led by the Congress party in the past wanted to install its own people in state governments is not a story in J&K alone, this has been true in many Indian states. This was followed by both Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. This is no more the case, even if not out of volition but out of compulsion. There is enough merit in the argument that the bureaucracy, which unfortunately seems to have distrust for the politicians of Kashmir, will not let it happen. This is something that will need to be dealt with political will and vision and the bureaucracy will have to fall in line. Coming back to the question as to whether the Hurriyat will be able to do anything if and when they come to power in Srinagar, I am doubtless in my mind that they will be able to pave the way for a Naya Kashmir.
(Appeared in Greater Kashmir, May 21, 2008. URL - http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=21_5_2008&ItemID=8&cat=11