LET US CHANGE THE NARRATIVE Dr. Romesh Raina After the announcement of the elections for the State of J&K, lot of activities in and around Delhi NCR took place regarding the subject. The prominent issue of debate was the participation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the election. I happened to participate in almost all the debates. In addition, social networking sites too have entered the fray with freelance journalist Rajinder Razdan’s observations drawing lot of community attention. Coming back to the subject, at one of the meetings I was asked a very straight question by a gentleman, though I responded but at some point felt that my response was inadequate. After giving much thought to it, my take on the issue is as: 1. The numerical strength of Kashmiri Pandits on the one hand and their displacement have played a havoc with the numbers, reducing their electoral power further. The dispersal of the KP community as a result of the exodus has further compounded the problem. This has affected their over all approach to J&K elections by taking it non-seriously. Though in one of the previous elections a Kashmiri Pandit was elected as an MLA who later on became a minister, this did not materially change the situation on the ground. 2. The present election is being fought under changed political circumstances. The change in the govt. at the centre has given a new meaning to the politics of the country. This change has gradually percolated to the rest of the country. Change in the state governments of Maharashtra and Haryana are the examples before us. 3. The impact of this change should also replicate in the State of J&K. This has to be seen and read from the Prime Minister’s observation that J&K must have a nationalistic govt. The most important element of this statement is Mission 44+ objective. It is this perception gives hope to neglected people like the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. 4. After seriously introspecting, my understanding is that this time the effort is to create a pluralistic space in Kashmir through elections. Already some steps have been taken in this direction and some efforts are underway to enable displaced KPs to participate in the elections in a big way. As a first step there has been simplification of the process of eligibility to register the displaced KPs as voters and next to encourage the displaced KPs to contest the forthcoming elections. Personally, I find the electoral climate for the first time since 90’s encouraging for us as it gives us some relevance as voters and emerge as major factor in these elections as we are capable in altering the electoral outcome in some constituencies. Electoral route for a displaced community like us will make us visible once again and also will act as an instrument of re-connectivity with the land of our origin. This calls for a change in the narrative both on the social networking sites and in the election related meetings that will take place in days to come. Let us energize a fresh and make this exercise meaningful and productive. If we acquire a post electoral strength, we can discuss our political survival and issues with more vigour and better prospects.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 10:48:42 +0000
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