Celebrations broke out on Tuesday morning in many places in Kashmir as the defeat of Narendra Modi’s party became a given. Activists from the National Conference, the region’s oldest political party, burst firecrackers and shared sweets outside their party offices, including in the capital Srinagar, as regional election results were announced. According to the first results, they would obtain 47 seats, compared to 27 for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Prime Minister’s party.
Nearly 9 million Kashmiris were called to the polls from September 18 to 1.Ahem October, for the first time in ten years, to elect their representatives in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. They clearly challenged the Indian Prime Minister who, on August 5, 2019, suddenly decided to abolish Article 370 of the Constitution, granting India’s only Muslim-majority region broad autonomy and limiting New Delhi’s intervention to defense or communications. sectors. Narendra Modi had also abolished Article 35 A of the Constitution, which prohibited non-Kashmiris from owning property. This coup was the founding act of his second term.
The regional Parliament was dissolved, all democratically elected leaders were arrested, as well as thousands of people, including journalists, rights defenders and ordinary citizens. The region was isolated from the world for months, without any communication. Foreign journalists are still prohibited there. Kashmir was transformed from a state with wide powers into a union territory, administered by Delhi. It was divided into two: Jammu and Kashmir on one side and Ladakh on the other.
This purely ideological operation that is on the agenda of the supporters of Hindutva, the Hindu extreme right, had no other objectives than to marginalize Muslims, deprive them of their representations and try to Hinduize this region, changing its demographic composition.
A governor under the orders of Delhi
The National Conference, led by the Abdullah family, an ally of the Congress Party, is expected to form the new government. Its representative, Omar Abdullah, ran for office with the main objective of reversing the political and constitutional changes that occurred after the revocation of its autonomy. Will you have the means?
The regional government has lost most of its powers, subject to a governor under orders from Delhi. The lieutenant governor has veto power that allows him to reject laws or oppose appointments of regional governments. It has the final say on key administrative and legal matters, including assignments and prosecutions of officials accused of corruption and other wrongdoing. But the government, even weakened, will have legitimacy.
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