The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was abruptly dissolved by the governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday, 21 November, hours after the People’s Democratic Party staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress. PDP’s bid was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties.
Defending his immediate call to dissolve the Assembly the governor said he took the call in order to save the Valley from an “unworkable alliance” and “a mess”.
Speaking on the panel of BloombergQuint’s primetime show about the timing of the dissolution, BJP leader Brigadier Anil Gupta said:
“Things are not bad but improving now. The political situation in Kashmir is becoming murkier and murkier and has become so much messy that the two regional parties that were supposed to safeguard the democracy has become undemocratic. They have taken the people of Jammu and Kashmir for granted.”Anil Gupta,BJP Leader
When asked if the PDP’s alliance with the NC and Congress was the “prod” needed by the governor to dissolve the Assembly, Gupta said, “these parties have been asking for the dissolution of Assembly. But now that it has been dissolved, they are crying.”
‘BJP Power Hungry,’ Alleges Soz
Responding to this, Congress spokesperson Salman Soz said that it was an “open secret” that the BJP has been trying to make MLAs from other parties join them so they can form the government. He also described the party “power hungry.”
He alleged that the BJP was “desperate” to get someone with just two MLAs to become the chief minister.
This political drama attracted sharp political reactions from across the state and the nation with the blame game between BJP and the Indian National Congress in full swing.
Slamming Soz’s remark that BJP was power hunger, Gupta asked why the party would then withdraw support from the government it was a part of.
Will Fresh Elections Better the Situation?
Answering whether fresh elections give the state the breather it needs, former interlocutor to Jammu and Kashmir MM Ansari said that the uprising in the valley is due to lack of democracy.
“Whatever has been happening is Kashmir is due to the alienation of what has been happening with the Kashmiri people. I must tell you that the recent incidents show that the Central government has never been keen to reestablish the democratic process.”
He further added that the Kashmiris have been yearning for a peaceful political process.
“Unfortunately, whichever central government has been in power, they have not allowed democracy to take place and take its route,” the former interlocutor said.
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