Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Dec 31: Political process which had come to a half after J&K’s reorganization on August 5, 2019, made a comeback in 2020 with the government holding the District Development Council elections in the newly carved out Union Territory.
“Revival of the political process has generated hope among the politicians that they will once again become active and good old times may return,” an observer told Precious Kashmir.
He said, “The DDC elections and regional parties, including National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Conference and others coming together to constitute Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) have changed the entire political scenario in Kashmir.”
The observer said that the PAGD winning 110 DDC seats is a good beginning. “The amalgam is likely to form the DDC boards in at least 13 districts. It means that the political parties in Kashmir who were out of business have returned. If the PAGD doesn’t fall apart it can give a tough competition to the national parties in the forthcoming assembly polls. These elections will be held after the delimitation exercise is over.”
He said that the regional parties not shying away from taking part in the DDC polls proved it beyond doubt that no one wanted to stay away from the political process. “The results of the DDC polls have decided the future course of action of PAGD. The amalgam leaders have declared that PAGD is there to stay and in future also all the polls will be contested jointly,” the observer said, adding that “the PAGD focusing on all the issues is an indication that it doesn’t want to leave the field open for the other parties.”
Another analyst said, “The emergence of PAGD in Kashmir in 2020 was the biggest political development in the Valley. The parties that have come together are aware of the fact that if they don’t remain united they will end up losing badly as Jammu based parties can easily turn the tables on them. Their only chance to form the government is that they remain united and sort out their differences which could ruin their chances in J&K’s changed political scenario.”
A politician said, “If the PAGD has to remain united the leaders of the amalgam have to stop taking credit for the individual achievements of their parties they will have to give credit to everyone to ensure that cracks don’t develop and the amalgam doesn’t crumble under its own weight.”
2020: Emergence of PAGD, DDC polls big political achievements
