BY DR. MEHBOOB MAKHDOOMI
One question that is being repeatedly asked since the new constitutional changes took effect is: Have larger political questions taken a back seat in the collective psyche of the people of J&K?
Being addressed as New Kashmir, one actually wonders at times whether this is the same Kashmir that used to witness months of street agitations every summer.
The conversations, narratives, news, writings, poetry, graffiti- everything seems to have changed. People seem largely disinterested in the old discourse. The ‘new normal’, as some would like to call it, is about fair recruitment processes, support for startups, uninterrupted electricity, Apple prices, better educational opportunities, health facilities, sports infrastructure, and an earnest desire to get rid of the traffic woes that have marred the lives of commoners.
Nobody could’ve imagined such a metamorphosis from emotive politics to developmental issues so swiftly. I’m not just referring to public meetings or seminars but even the drawing-room debates have changed. The only reference to politics is about elections: when will they be held?
No wonder why so many people had descended into Apni Party’s rally in Lalchowk yesterday. I didn’t anticipate such a crowd since it’s a recent political adventure of a person who’s not out there to offer solutions to familiar political questions of the day- not even Article 370 & 35-A.
What do these crowds signify?
Well, looks like it’s an era of developmental politics. The reason why people aren’t responsive to emotive or bigger political questions is for social scientists to find out. My guess is that they feel the solutions to such quagmires are unrealistic, and that there’s no point sacrificing their peace for it. This isn’t to say that any person or party is becoming popular for who they are. Many would argue that people might have come to the said rally expecting jobs, and other developmental goodies, once in power, and not for their emotional attachment to the party.
Maybe! That, however, doesn’t change the observation that people seem to be concerned and responsive to such offers, further consolidating the opinion that developmental politics is the only politics gaining currency in J&K.
For people to look for growth in agricultural and horticultural produce, a spike in educational & healthcare quality, and seek employment and industrial subsidies for entrepreneurial ventures is not an unhealthy trend as these are their basic rights as citizens and taxpayers.
Not that people didn’t want it earlier but these weren’t the central problems around which the politics of J&K revolved, and that precisely is the change that’s palpable to every eye that sees Kashmir.
Dr. Mehboob Makhdoomi, Management qualification from Harvard, IUPennsylvania & Cardiff Universities. He’s helping transform the higher education landscape in India & abroad. A Linguist from Cambridge University. ysmmet.org Email: makhdoomi.mehboob6@gmail.com
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