Post revocation of Article 370, the political landscape of Kashmir is being altered, reports RIYAZ WANI
As part of the unfolding permutations and combinations in Kashmir politics following the withdrawal of Article 370, the former PDP patron Mehbooba Mufti joined the People’s Conference (PC) led by Sajad Gani Lone. Beigh has been active in J&K politics since the early eighties and has, in fact, started his career with the PC itself. The party was then led by Lone’s father Abdul Gani Lone, who was also its founder. He was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in 2001 when he was a top Hurriyat leader.
With Beigh’s entry, the PC has received a shot in the arm, not necessarily in terms of an increase in electoral support for the party. Beigh will add to the weight of the PC whose footprint since its founding has been limited to a part of North Kashmir. The maximum Assembly seats that the PC has won in an election are two. Beigh, who has some support in Baramulla, a district in north Kashmir, can help expand the party’s base in North Kashmir already strengthened by joining of Imran Reza Ansari, who commands substantial support at Pattan, a constituency in district Baramulla.
In theory, the entry of major leaders likes Beigh and earlier that of Ansari has built the PC up as a strong north Kashmir party. And should Lone succeed in rallying North Kashmir around his party, it will transform the electoral landscape of the Valley. This would split up Kashmir among the three parties: the National Conference (NC), the PDP, and the PC. That is if we discount the chances of Apni Party led by businessman turned politician Altaf Bukhari, which boasts of some leaders, most of them drawn from the PDP, who commands some support in their respective constituencies.
The PDP has traditionally been dominant in South Kashmir and the NC in central Kashmir with Srinagar city as its core base. And now the north where both the NC and the PDP won their seats is witnessing the emergence of the PC as a major player. Whether this new political reality also reflects in the seat tallies of these parties in the future assembly election remains to be seen.
While anywhere else in the country, one more political party would be a part of the normal political process, not in Kashmir. The PC’s rising profile as a political party is viewed with unease by a large section of the population in Kashmir who think that the formation of more political parties will fragment the Kashmiri mandate and diminish the Valley’s political sway and say in governance.
