Kulgam: In Jamaat bastion, comrade in danger Kulgam, Dec 2: Outside a polling booth in Bugam here, paramilitary forces and Army soldiers manned roads as young men huddled in groups to discuss “poll boycott.” The scene inside the booth reflected the picture outside. “None of the 416 voters registered here has turned up to cast the vote,” an official on duty said in the afternoon. Bugam is one of the scores of villages in Kulgam, considered to be a stronghold of the socio-religious political organization, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Reflecting on the polling scenario, the young men outside the booth said, “Don’t you know we always boycott polls? There is complete boycott.” Today, it was. But, village after village, the strongholds of Jamaat, mood was in total contrast to Bugam: a trend even described by the sitting MLA and “communist” MY Targami himself as “element of concern”. Villages like Chahlan explain this concern. “The entire village has chosen the same path we followed in 2008,” said Muhammad Iqbal Bhat, joined by a large group of men, outside the polling booth at the village. Nilow is another Jamaat stronghold where people choose to queue outside polling booths. “Our aim is to see end to sufferings and our participation will help us realize this dream,” said an elderly, Peer Ghulam Muhammad. “I voted for the same party I had gone with in 2008.” By 2 pm, 1252 voters out of 1680 had cast their vote in Nilow. Farooq Ahmad Khan was ferrying voters in his auto-rickshaw to the polling booth “free of cost to ensure this election brings a change”. “My mother, an asthma patient, is bed-ridden. But I ensured her vote doesn’t go waste,” Khan said. A first-time voter, Umar Khan, said he voted for PDP. He called himself a “Jamaat supporter”. Asked why he voted if Jamaat had issued poll boycott call, he responded, “It was not a decree for Jamaat voters and sympathizers. We had a choice, either to vote or not, but the decision was ours.” His views were reflected by voters in villages like Munad, Hangel, Shadipora and Mehmoodpora. “Don’t we deserve good roads and good healthcare facilities? Why has not been this primary school upgraded to next levels for the past so many years,” said Mushtaq Ahmad of Adoora. His colleague, Javaid Ahmad argued: “Because we follow a particular ideology doesn’t mean that we don’t have right to even basic facilities. Whosoever is voting here is voting for change.” In 2008, Kulgam, for the first time since 1996, registered brisk polling (60 percent), which almost ended Targami’s winning streak. However, he managed to complete his hat-trick by a margin of a few hundred votes. That time, besides Jamaat vote bank, most of the people in villages like Aarigatnoo, Ashmuja and others had cast their vote against Targami. Six years later, Kulgam repeated 2008 today. The constituency—a stronghold of JI but represented by a ‘communist’—Tuesday registered 55.23 percent voting. However Targami’s loyalists say they have been able to reach out to aggrieved voters in a number of villages. “Our win is certain,” said a CPI-M voter at Mirhooma. In Targami’s native village—Targam—the mood was festive and the scene outside polling booths was a sign of encouragement for him. “Here people vote in one direction and it is the only direction they have followed since 1996,” said Zahoor Ahmad. “We will make it 4-0 this time.” In 1996, when militancy was at its peak in Kashmir, Targami took a plunge into the electoral politics from Kulgam and defeated his nearest rival Habibullah Laway by a margin of more than 16000 votes after serving as one of the founding members of the CPI-M in Kashmir. Prior to Targami, the constituency was represented by JI candidate Abdur Razak Mir (Buchroo) in 1987. Razak was assassinated by government gunmen in 1996 at a time when Jamaat cadre was haunted by Ikhwanis and the organization saw many of its men, including top ranking functionaries, getting killed. When Kulgam went to polls in 2002, Targami defeated National Conference candidate Ghulam Nabi Dar who had represented the constituency twice before—in 1977 and 1983. The Peoples Democratic Party, which emerged on the electoral scene in 2002, didn’t field any candidate from the constituency though it managed to win 16 seats in its maiden election foray. The NC suffered a setback when Dar, the two-time MLA, was killed in a grenade attack in 2006. His death handed over an edge to Targami who not only consolidated his vote bank but also expanded his influence over the NC cadre, in some pockets. In 2008, the PDP candidate Nazir Ahmad Laway surprised many when he gave a close fight to Targami, losing to him by just 236 votes. National Conference secured third rank bagging over 5000 votes, much below PDP’s 16939 votes. This election, National Conference fielded Imran Nabi, son of ex-MLA and party leader Ghulam Nabi Dar, who is seen as a “clean face” in the constituency. Imran has been able to consolidate his party vote bank at a certain level and enjoys good support in Chawalgam, Aadigen, Labdoo, Pumbay, Kakran and Achthal. “He (Imran) stands out among the lot and attracts young voters,” said Javaid Ahmad at Chawalgam. A “strong” NC candidate would be another factor of worry for Targami as National Conference’s top rank has stood behind Imran in his maiden poll battle. But, like 2008, participation of people from villages where JI has a significant say, and brisk polling, could end up as a crucial factor in the poll battle. “The poll boycott call (of Jammat) was addressed to everyone. But we saw the results of boycott call by the pro-freedom groups,” said former Amir-e-Jamaat, Sheikh Ghulam Hassan, who is a native of Targam and a neighbor of MY Targami. To a question why people voted in JI strongholds in Kulgam, Hassan said: “We guarantee that our top ranks and their families don’t participate in election but we can’t ensure poll boycott by our sympathizers and voters.” The migrant voter population of over 2700 is another factor that would play this time around as BJP has launched a massive campaign to seek support to its candidates in Kashmir. The party has this time fielded MY Zargar from here.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 02:18:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015