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Journalism of Courage
The silence of villages in south Kashmir was on Wednesday interrupted by the noise of car engines and loudspeakers. For the first time since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts were witnessing political activity at this scale.
Leading the roadshow, which stretched over 60 kilometers and passed through 30 villages, was former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti. In what is expected to set the tone of her campaign, she chose not to focus on the traditional “bijli, sadak, paani” discourse, appealing instead to peoples’ emotions with a campaign focused on identity, unity, demographics and jobs.
“This time, I am not seeking votes for a road, a pavement or a bridge,” she told residents of Imam Sahib village. “This time, I am seeking your votes to take your voice to the Parliament. I am seeking votes for our identity, for our land and our jobs.”
“They (referring to the BJP at the Centre) want to assault our identity; their eyes are on our land and jobs,” she said at Nervani village. “We will not let them control these things. But for that you have to raise your voice. They want us to surrender, accept defeat. They have pushed us into the river, our job is to stay afloat.”
The roadshow was peppered with posters and slogans such as “Hubbul Watan Minal Iman (loving one’s homeland is a part of faith)” and Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Bol ke lab azad hain tere (Speak out, your words are free)” – reminiscent of the state assembly elections from 1987.
“Let all unite and hold on to one rope,” she told people in Kashmiri while visiting Wachi. “Na bikne wali, na jhukne wali (she won’t be a sellout, nor will she bend),” the crowd shouted, an epithet used for separatist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani in his rallies.
In south Kashmir, which saw considerable violence over the past decade, she said to residents, “Your children were slapped with PSA (Public Safety Act); so was I.”
Unlike Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo yatra, which stuck to the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, Mufti made it a point to touch areas deep inside south Kashmir.
“Please teach your children Kashmiri at home,” she said at village after village. “They will learn English and Urdu at school. I have daughters who grew up in Delhi – they don’t speak Kashmiri but I am teaching them. They can snatch our land but they can’t snatch our language. Our language is our identity.”
With seat sharing hopes with the National Conference dashed, she said, “This was the time for unity. I tried to put up a united fight against the BJP. But that didn’t work.”
At D K Pora village in Shopian, she said, “PDP workers are already here, but I would ask National Conference workers to support me in this fight. It is time to fight together.”
The PDP is in direct contest with the NC, its ally in the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration, in all three seats in Kashmir. In the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, Mufti is up against National Conference’s Gujjar leader Mian Altaf. In Srinagar, PDP has fielded its youth president Waheed Parra against NC’s Aga Roohullah, a Shia leader. From Baramulla, PDP has fielded former Rajya Sabha member Fayaz Ahmad Mir against two political stalwarts – NC’s Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone.
“This is not the time to boycott,” Mufti said in villages that have in the past seen turnout as low as five percent.
She made an appeal not just for votes but for financial help too. “Come forward and help me with whatever you can – Rs 100, Rs 200,” she said. “When I contested the Parliament elections in 2019, I had 50 lakhs in my account; today I have only Rs 22 lakh.”
