Former J&K Chief Ministers, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, on Wednesday, accused the BJP of “deliberately deferring” polls for urban local bodies and panchayat, whose terms end this year in the Union Territory (UT).
Ms. Mufti, president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), termed the BJP’s stand over holding polls in J&K contradictory. “In the Supreme Court, they (the BJP) claim the situation has improved in J&K after abrogation of Article 370, and people are happy. At the same time, the government now says that the security situation is not right in J&K and the elections cannot be conducted,” Ms. Mufti said.
Ms. Mufti’s remarks came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah met BJP leaders from J&K in New Delhi. Later, several BJP leaders hinted at the delay in urban local bodies elections in J&K “in the wake of threats posed by militants to attack the voters”. Mr. Shah reportedly directed the party’s core group of J&K to focus on Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for 2024.
However, Ms. Mufti said the delay seems due to the failure of the BJP’s experiments in J&K. “Even the people of Jammu have gone against them. There is a realisation that the BJP fooled them by provoking them against Kashmir and creating Hindu-Muslim divide,” Ms. Mufti said.
The National Conference (NC) vice president has also targeted the BJP for deliberately delaying these polls in J&K. “I doubt their (the BJP) intentions. I fear even before the dates are notified, the BJP will play some foul. The way the BJP did it in Mumbai where it knew Uddhav Thackeray was going to win. Don’t get surprised if they delay the panchayat and urban local bodies polls,” Mr. Abdullah said.
He said the real reason for the delay was that 80 percent of people now dislike the BJP in J&K. “The BJP does not want to face the anger of the people. The BJP leadership has sensed the public mood and widespread anger even in its restricted so-called core constituency owing to its anti-people policies and its failure on all fronts in the past nine years, which is why the party is shying away in facing the electorate,” Mr. Abdullah said.
The five-year term of urban local bodies will end in November this year in J&K. The terms of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and the Jammu Municipal Corporation are also ending in November. The Panchayat elections are also due in November-October in the UT.
