Governance isn’t always an issue, but the access to the system, particularly, the will of people to select who they want to represent them. What is quite awful to note here is that since June 2018, J&K does not have an elected Government, rather, those who do not know the landscape, do not know about the issues of the people, and can’t even fake the empathy remain stationed in Srinagar as well as Jammu to decide for the people. Democracy comes with the elected Government; people get to vote—which represents democracy-get to select whoever they want to see on the higher chair of Governance. With that process, comes a sense of belonging, and protection, and with that, subsequently, comes a sense of living in a democratic setup where the views and wishes of people—forming the basis of the entire system—are heard and respected.
These days, we are seeing Union Ministers coming to J&K and telling the people how the Modi-Government has been able to “free” them of decades-old shackles; how it enabled them to become a part of national development; how it is ensuring the flow of funds for the greater development of J&K. These are all nice and beautiful phrases, but what is ironic here is that nobody is talking freeing J&K from the clutches of babus and giving the power into the hands of common people, where the foundations of democracy originally lie.
The time has come to get things moving swiftly. There are no excuses for the Government to delay the conduct of elections in J&K. The delimitation—which has been made as a pre-requisite for the conduction of elections—is over; there does not seem to be any other factor visible on the ground which might prevent the Government from starting to rebuild the democratic set up in J&K, missing for the last several years now. The need of the hour is to let people elect their representatives; let them feel that they belong to a system where even a single person matters. Let them have the taste of democracy, now!
