Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – Haroon Khan was gathering with friends on the lawn of a polling station in central Nowatta, a part of Srinagar city known for anti-India sentiment. Mr. Khan had just emerged from a small room after voting in India’s ongoing parliamentary elections.
Most residents of Indian-administered Kashmir have boycotted elections for years, but many here see this as New Delhi’s use of democracy to wage an armed insurgency against India since 1989. It is seen as an attempt to legitimize control over areas that are hotbeds. Group and separatist leaders regularly issue calls for boycotts before each election.
But as India votes in national elections, its voting patterns are changing. Five years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, abolished its statehood and brought it under New Delhi’s direct control, 21-year-old Khan and his wife were at a polling station. Our friends outside have chosen a new nation. Form of protest: Voting.
“Boycotts and other measures have not achieved anything.” [stone pelting] We staged a protest to express our opposition,” Khan said. “Many of my friends and neighbors have been languishing in prison for years, and no one is taking care of them.”
Khan is not alone.
Three different voting dates are available for the three lower house seats in India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha, in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. Srinagar, the only city to have voted so far, recorded a 38 per cent voter turnout in the region on May 13. This was the highest turnout since 1989, and in the last election in 2019, the figure was 14.43%.
Voters and local politicians say this is not an endorsement of India or its policies. Rather, they say it reflects that the political landscape in the region has changed so dramatically that they feel they have no choice but to voice their opposition to New Delhi.
“Please choose someone to speak for us.”
Kashmir is a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming all or part of it. Neighboring countries in South Asia have fought three wars over the Himalayan region.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since 1989, when an armed rebellion against Indian rule broke out. A large Indian military presence oversees most aspects of life in state-controlled Kashmir.
Nevertheless, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed a special status and was given some degree of autonomy. For example, outsiders could not buy land there.
The situation changed in 2019 with the abrogation of Article 370, a provision in India’s constitution that gave it special status, and the situation has worsened since then, Khan said. The region’s legislative assembly has also not been elected since then, and many Kashmiris feel they have no say in the policies that shape their lives.
“My purpose in voting today was to elect a local Kashmiri representative who can speak on our behalf to India. I want my friends released from prison,” Khan said. said.
Vote for the “lesser evil”
For the first time in decades, separatist leaders and armed groups have not called for a boycott of elections. Most of the separatist leaders are currently in prison.
Meanwhile, traditionally pro-India political parties have become vocal critics of New Delhi since the 2019 crackdown. Indian leaders have been arrested and accuse India of betraying the people of Kashmir through the abrogation of Article 370. Voters and analysts say political parties that were once treated as pawns to New Delhi are now seen as potential spokespeople for the people. .
Faheem Alam, 38, a web developer who cast his vote at Lal Chowk in central Srinagar, said his vote was for a “lesser evil”. ) hinted., It is considered to be the “greater evil” compared to other political parties.
“I am voting for the Indian Union,” he said, referring to the opposition group that opposes Mr. Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive power return. “I don’t like any political party, but I am voting to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party at bay.”
Prime Minister Modi’s recent election speech targeting Muslims, in which he described them as “infiltrators” and “people who give birth to more children”, adds to Alam’s concerns.
“Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region, but what is happening to Muslims in other states of India is appalling. Therefore, I am voting to save our region from the Bharatiya Janata Party. I participated,” he said.
Kashmir’s mainstream political parties have welcomed the change in protest strategy from boycott to vote. Agha Syed Ruhra Mehdi, a National Congress (NC) candidate from Srinagar, said Kashmiris have been paying the price for “criminalization” of electoral participation over the years.
“Over the years, mainstream political parties have been discredited in Kashmir. Participation in elections has been considered. [a] It is a crime,” Mehdi told Al Jazeera at the party headquarters in Srinagar. “Today, Kashmiris have lost their identity. We are ruled by outsiders.”
Mehdi’s rival in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, agreed.
“People are now realizing: [their] The vote is a weapon,” Parra told Al Jazeera. “Today, there is complete silence in Kashmir. People are afraid to even speak, but by participating in the elections, they are making their voices heard against New Delhi’s decisions in 2019. ”
Since the revocation of Article 370, the Modi government has imprisoned hundreds of human rights activists, journalists and political leaders, and has also placed restrictions on politicians from the NC and PDP who pledge allegiance to the Indian state.
People lined up at a polling station to cast their votes last Monday in Pulwama, in south Kashmir, about 34 kilometers (21 miles) from Srinagar and once the center of an armed uprising against Indian rule. .
In the last assembly elections, the turnout in Pulwama area, which falls under Srinagar constituency, was just 1%, while this time it was 43.39%.
Muneeb Bashir, 20, a computer science engineering student at AMC College of Engineering in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, is a first-time voter.
“We need young leaders who represent the aspirations of Kashmiri youth. Things have changed here. [in Kashmir] “Since the days of boycott,” Bashir said, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to allow people from other parts of India to buy land, get jobs and settle in Muslim-majority Kashmir. He cited concerns that he was trying to change the region’s demographics.
Sitting in line behind Bashir was 25-year-old Munir Mushtaq. He said the reason he voted for the first time was to protect the “preamble” of the Indian Constitution. That section of the Basic Law of India sets out the core values of the modern Indian state and defines the Indian state as a secular, socialist state.
“This is the first time in 10 years that assembly polls will be held in Kashmir,” Mushtaq said, referring to the state assembly elections. “This vote is against the government of India.”
Unlike before, many women were also lining up to vote.
Rukhsana, 30, a voter from the village of Naira in southern Kashmir, said her vote would help free imprisoned youths in her village.
“Many atrocities are happening in Kashmir. Our youth are being imprisoned. I am confident that our misery will be lessened if our people are in charge.” she said.
In Shopian, another district in south Kashmir where militants have long held sway, turnout was 47.88%, compared to 2.64% in the 2019 general election.
Who deserves the credit? And who will be responsible?
Both Mr. Modi and India’s Home Minister Amit Shah credited the high turnout in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency to the abrogation of Article 370.
“I especially want to congratulate the people of Srinagar assembly constituency for showing a significantly better turnout than before,” PM Modi tweeted.
Prime Minister Modi reshared an image posted by the Election Commission of India of long queues of voters in Srinagar.
Shah said the abrogation of Article 370 was a victory for democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 is also showing results in voter turnout. It has increased people’s confidence in democracy and its roots have gone deep in J&K. [Jammu and Kashmir]” Shah wrote to X.
“Through the surge in voter turnout, the people of J&K have given a befitting response to those who opposed demonetisation and are still advocating for its revival,” he added.
Opponents of the BJP, however, point to the fact that the party has not fielded candidates in any of the three constituencies in the Kashmir Valley, which is a sign of the deep challenges the party faces in the region. Experts say it reflects awareness of anger.
Political analyst Sheikh Shaukat Hussain said that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s claims, the reason why more people are voting this time than in the past is actually due to construction also by the NC Party and the PDP. He said it was a “Bharatiya Party phobia”.
At the same time, he pointed out that despite there being no boycott calls, almost two-thirds of voters in Srinagar still skip the elections. And the 38% turnout in this constituency is only about half the 73% turnout in 1984, the last national election before the outbreak of armed rebellion.
In Budgam’s Chadoora district, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) from Srinagar, 22-year-old Inayat Yusuf voted against “outsiders” seizing power in Kashmir. His fear is that if the Bharatiya Janata Party wins a majority in the elections, it could seek to further change Kashmir’s image.
“There will always be issues of development and employment,” Yusuf said. “But this time it’s about our identity.”
