SRINAGAR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s surprise two-day visit to Srinagar has drawn flak from political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, who have questioned the timing and intent of the trip amid ongoing parliamentary elections.
Shah’s visit on Thursday to the Kashmir valley, where the BJP has not fielded a single candidate for the three Lok Sabha seats, has raised suspicions among opposition parties. They allege that the visit is an attempt by the ruling party to influence the remaining phases of polling on May 20 and 25.
While the local BJP unit has insisted that the visit is not political and aimed at reviewing security arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, the timing and lack of transparency surrounding Shah’s engagements have fueled suspicions of ulterior motives.
Sinha surprised over Shah’s Kashmir visit
In a forthcoming interview with the Kashmir Times, India’s former finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, who also heads the Concerned Citizens Group on Kashmir, said that it was surprising that Amit Shah should visit Kashmir to review the security situation in the middle of an election.
“If nothing untoward has happened or is likely to happen, why should the home minister of India visit Kashmir when he is so busy with elections in the rest of the country? It is a very surprising development and I think, security could not be the only reason,” he told Kashmir Times in an interview (To be streamed soon).
Opposition parties express apprehensions
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who is contesting from Baramulla, expressed bewilderment over Shah’s visit amid his hectic campaigning schedule elsewhere in the country. “Don’t you feel strange that the home minister is coming for two days to Kashmir where the BJP has not fielded its candidate?” Abdullah questioned, accusing the BJP leadership of trying to “damage” the NC after sensing its victory in the Srinagar seat.
Similarly, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti cautioned the Centre against attempting to “subvert the election process” as was allegedly done in 1987, warning of serious consequences. Her party colleague Naeem Akhtar took to X (Formerly Twitter) to express apprehensions, asking, “In the middle of a crucial election, visiting Kashmir where the party isn’t even fielding candidates! Hope everything is alright.”
The opposition parties have raised concerns that Shah’s visit, which includes a high-level security review meeting, is an attempt to intimidate voters and tilt the electoral scales in favor of the BJP’s proxy candidates like the Apni Party and Peoples Conference.
‘High voter turnout rattles BJP-govt’
A senior political analyst, on conditions of anonymity, said that the BJP was already actively involved in the election campaigning at the local level, and openly backing proxy parties against the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party. “It seems that the Narendra Modi government is rattled by the high voter turnout in Srinagar which upsets their plans,” he said.
“Security related to Amarnath yatra cannot be a plausible reason. It is a routine affair, and it is still a long time away. The visit is clearly political and it seems that they may try to go to any extent to stop what happened in Srinagar from being repeated in the rest of the phases of elections,” he said.
As the remaining phases of polling approach, the opposition parties have vowed to remain vigilant against any attempts to undermine the democratic process, accusing the BJP of resorting to strong-arm tactics in absence of a credible political agenda for the region.
A senior political leader, who did not want to be named said that the emphasis of Amit Shah’s visit appears to be to alter and influence the voting in the other phases, particularly in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
“Pahari officials from the region had been called yesterday by Lieutenant Governor and threatened with consequences if they didn’t deliver in the Pir Panjal region,” he claimed, adding that they were asked to ensure that the community votes for BJP’s proxy party.
Tarun Chugh, he said, is already campaigning in these border districts “along with entire Sangh paraphernalia” and is actively mobilising his cadres.
“The public anger against BJP is drawing them, particularly youth to the polling booths. The energy, slogans and spontaneous response are all too familiar. Kashmiri’s resistance is far from fading away. Vote is the new gun, the new stone that the government has no easy answers to. Knowing BJP’s singular obsession with elections, Amit Shah’s visit may be aimed at attempting and thwarting similar trends in the rest of the Valley,” he averred.
Shah’s visit not political: BJP
Earlier, a local BJP leader said that Shah’s visit to Kashmir was not political.
“The Union home minister is coming to Kashmir but the visit is not political. Elections are underway. The voter turnout on May 13 is a huge success of the central government’s policies, including the abrogation of Article 370,” Sunil Sharma, the general secretary of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, told news persons in Srinagar.
A BJP leader said in Srinagar that Amit Shah would chair a meeting to review arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath pilgrimage and would meet the delegations of Gujjars, Bakerwals, and Paharis, who have a large presence in the Anantnag and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies for which polling is yet to take place, a party statement said.
Delegations call on Shah
Soon after he arrived in Kashmir on Thursday evening, Shah met several delegations including party delegations and members of the Pahari communities, who were recently granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and 10% reservation in jobs.
The Pahari leaders emerged from the meeting to say that they had come to thank the Union Home Minister for granting them special status and that there was nothing political about the visit. “We are happy that this government has delivered us justice,” one of them told news persons.
However, there were speculations that the meetings were aimed at discussing poll strategies with local BJP leaders, Paharis, and members of other communities.
Shah’s visit to Srinagar has come ahead of polling for the Baramulla and Anantnag seats on May 20 and May 25 respectively. The visit also comes close on the heels of a few other Kashmir-related developments.
JeI wants ban revoked for poll participation
A day before his visit, the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) expressed willingness to join the electoral process. JeI leader Ghulam Qadir Wani said the group would “consider participating in elections if the ban is revoked” and described youth participation in the Srinagar polls as “a good omen.”
Wani, who heads a JeI panel, said “We have faith in democracy” and clarified the group never issued boycott calls, which were wrongly attributed to it. The JeI was banned as an “unlawful association” by the Home Ministry in 2019 under UAPA.
A report in the Hindu said that “Wani has visited Delhi several times in the past three years and met influential leaders, as part of the spadework towards ending the ban on the group.”
Shah rakes up PoK protests in WB
Two days ago, Amit Shah, while addressing an election rally in West Bengal raked up Kashmir and maintained that while peace has returned to once trouble-torn Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Pakistan Administered Kashmir now echoes with slogans of Azadi and protests. He was referring to the unrest in Muzaffarabad earlier this week.
He said, “PoK is part of India and we will take it”.
“After the abrogation of Article 370 by the government in 2019 peace has returned to Kashmir. But now we witness protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Earlier, slogans of Azadi were heard here, now the same slogans are heard in PoK. Earlier, stones were pelted here, now stones are pelted in PoK,” he added.
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