Political Slugfest Breaks Out in J&K After Assembly Dissolution by Governor

A political slugfest took off on Thursday  following Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik’s decision to  dissolve theAssembly on Wednesday evening.  While the Governor claimed that he had taken the decision to prevent horse-trading, the PDP and NC alleged that the Governor was working at the behest of the BJP leaders sitting in the Centre, while BJP national secretary Ram Madhav accused the two key parties of boycotting the civic and panchayat polls on “instructions” from Pakistan.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) questioned  the sudden decision by the Governor in the wake of the fact that both the parties had been demanding dissolution if the Assembly for long.

Read More : J&K Assembly Dissolution: Story of a Fax Machine That Was Not Working

Earlier, BJP National Secretary Ram Madhav had also tweeted that the J&K Assembly would not be dissolved till June 2019.

However, things took a quick turn after the three main parties -- PDP, NC and Congress -- decided to stake claim to form the government to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay. All the three parties together had 56 of the 87 seats in the House, while only 44 seats are required to form the government.

Former Chief Minister and President of NC, Omar Abdullah, in his tweet said, “JKNC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears.”

Speaking to NewsClick, senior PDP leader and former Finance Minister Altaf Bukhari said all the parties came together to form the government to keep “communal” forces away from J&K, adding that the Central government was trying their best to stop the formation.  

Another senior leader of the party (wishing anonymity) told NewsClick that many people had approached him, offering money to join hands with another party for government formation, which he had denied. He, however, refused to name anyone.

The slugfest intensified soon after Madhav tweeted that PDP and NC came together to form the government in J&K as they had received “instructions” from across the border. He alleged that they had received instructions for boycotting the ULB andpanchayat election.

In response, Abdullah lashed out at Madhav at a press conference on  his comment, saying that this was an insult to all the sacrifices given by the workers of his party.

“I dare Ram Madhav to bring evidence about Pakistan’s role in the formation of this alliance,” Abdullah said at a press conference. “Please stop this politics of shoot and scoot,” he added.

"I dare you to prove your allegation. You have RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), NIA (National Investigation Agency) and IB (Intelligence Bureau) at your command (CBI too is your parrot). So have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise," Abdullah said. 

On the Governor’s allegations of horse-trading, Abdullah said (as quoted by Indian Express): "The allegation that money was used, MLAs were bought, horse-trading was done, the governor himself has written this. This he must explain to the people of the state. Please show what evidence you have, who has used money, and where it is."

It may be recalled that Assembly dissolution was kept in  suspension since June 2018, after the BJP withdrew support to the coalition government headed  by PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti .

Who Holds Power In J&K?

In  the heated political climate amid the making and breaking of alliances, NewsClick spoke to many local residents across Kashmir, a majority of whom said that all they wanted was a proper government which they could approach to solve their problems. Several people were also angry with the Governor’s decision to dissolve the Assembly.

Terming Malik’s reason for dissolving the Assembly as a “lame joke”, a Srinagar resident (wishing anonymity) said it was clear that BJP was running de facto government in J&K, which was proved by the Governor himself.

He said the Governor had  said that excessive horse trading was going in J&K, adding that people in Kashmir have right to know about the “horse trading”. The  details about this are with the Governor and must be made public, he added.

On BJP’s de facto power in J&K, he said on August 30, a video of BJP’s state president Ravinder Raina went viral on social networking sites in which he is reported to have said that “Ab Jo Governor Aya Hai Woh Humara Banda Hai (The new Governor is our man),” Raina could be heard telling a group of people around him in the video.

This statement clearly indicates that the Governor is dancing to the tunes of BJP leaders in the Central government, he added.

According to political observers, as per the  J&K Constitution, President’s Rule will be imposed in J&K on December 19, 2018, which is six months after the imposition of Governor’s rule. Meanwhile, there is speculation that Assembly elections maybe held after the six months, along with the Lok Sabha polls.