Kashmir Life (KL): Congress party’s performance in the District Development Council elections was dismal. Is Congress relevant in Jammu and Kashmir?
Ghulam Ahmad Mir (GAM): The situation in which these polls were suddenly announced only Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP knew about it. The delimitation of constituencies in these polls was also done without taking political parties on board. The delimitation was done by BJP in connivance with the official administration. The BJP did nothing because the Jammu and Kashmir administration played their role on the ground. Congress was also faced with another dilemma to come up with good candidates, unlike the other parties who put up anybody and everybody with no ground base.
KL: Does that mean that India’s grand old party of India didn’t have leaders to fight these polls?
GAM: There is a difference between a candidate and an eligible candidate. Eligible candidate means somebody who has a ground presence. We needed such people who were capable, not the fill in the blanks candidates.
KL: Over the past six years, Congress has not been doing well in J&K. There have been a series of poor performances: The 2014 assembly polls, 2019 parliament polls and now these polls. What is the reason?
GAM: This is the first time in the past 70 years that the administration became a political party’s off-shoot. There was a crackdown in these polls. It has never happened before. Otherwise, people had no problem in connecting and voting for the Congress party.
KL: Are you alleging that the bureaucracy acted to favour the BJP? Did they not do so when you were in power?
Denne historien er fra January 31, 2021-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra January 31, 2021-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
