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Journalism of Courage
Nanaji Dembi tries to revive his old connections with people while reliving his childhood memories as he walks through the streets of Chattabal, a rickety congested neighbourhood of Srinagar on a sunny afternoon on Saturday.
“Ba ousus lakcharus tche nish mithaye hewan (I would buy candies from you in my childhood),” he tells an old shopkeeper as he hands out a leaflet bearing his name, picture and election symbol. “My election symbol is ‘match box’ and my serial number is four.”
With just these few words, Dembi moves on to the next person, a timber seller. “Ba osus tuhai paetkin rozan, mei ous matamaal yei (I used to live just behind your house. My maternal home stood here),” he tells him. The duo exchange a few words and telephone numbers before Dembi moves on to the next shop.
Dembi, the candidate of the Sampoorna Bharat Kranti Party is one of the four Kashmiri Pandits among 12 candidates who are trying their luck from the Habbakadal Assembly seat, which is home to around 20,000 voters of the community – the highest in the erstwhile state – mostly living outside Kashmir. A total of 12 candidates from the community are in the fray for the upcoming polls, up from the eight Kashmiri Pandits who contested the 2014 Assembly elections.
Since 1962, Habbakadal, currently represented by Shameema Firdous of the National Conference (NC), has elected members of the community five times – Durga Prasad Dhar of Congress in 1962, S K Kaul of Congress in 1996, Pyare Lal Handoo of NC in 1987 and 1996, and Raman Mattoo, an Independent in 2002. However, it is the first time since 1990 that four Kashmiri Pandits are in the fray from the seat after the nominations of two candidates were rejected.
The 60-year-old Dembi, who was previously associated with the BJP, grabbed the spotlight in 2019 after he removed the signboard of the Hurriyat from its office in Srinagar’s Rajbagh. However, he now claims his previous party believes in “use and throw” and is out to “destroy them”.
“I want to take up the issue of relief and rehabilitation of the community, I want jobs for youth and want to take up issues of the poor and downtrodden,” he says. This, according to Dembi, will not be possible if Hindu and Muslims are against each other. “A Hindu is incomplete without a Muslim and vice-versa. This is my slogan and this is what I tell people here,” he says.
Away from Habbakadal in Beerwah, Dr Sanjay Parva is in the fray as an Independent. Originally hailing from Pattan, Parva left his medical practice and took the political plunge due to his “love for the homeland”.
“I have seen the issues of people are being overlooked, especially in Beerwah. While the world has moved forward, people here do not even have basic amenities,” he says.
During his campaign, Parva touches upon issues affecting people’s daily lives rather than invoking big issues. “My issues for this election are water, narrow roads, unmaintained bridges, streetlights and public toilets,” he says and claims he listens to the people, “who want to be heard”.
In Rajpora of South Kashmir, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Arun Kumar Raina, who originally hails from Pulwama but has been living in the Valley for the past three years, is also focussed on providing jobs and rehabilitating members of his community.
“I do not delve into the Hindu-Muslim or Pandit-Muslim narrative. I have seen highly educated people work as street vendors in the Valley as there are no jobs. On the other hand, less financial aid which my community has got is also an issue,” he says.
With more than two Kashmiri Pandits in the fray on many seats – four in Habbakadal and two each from Shangus of Anantnag and Rajpora – Dembi believes it is a ploy to split the community votes though he stops short of elaborating.
“Why would Sajay (Saraf) ji of the Lok Janshakti Party contest from Habbakadal when he is also contesting from Anantnag. It is meant to divide votes,” he says.
