Winter is almost here. Some upper reaches of Kashmir Valley have received snowfall. Temperatures are going down. People are freezing and the only amenity that could salvage people from winters worries – electricity – is playing hide-n-seek. Though the major towns including summer capital Srinagar are bit comfortably placed, the rural areas are already on the receiving end. The power supply to these areas is pathetic. Even in metered areas, the power supply is dismal by all standards.
Arguably, people of Jammu and Kashmir have their own elected government but does this government have any authority to, at least, improve electric power scenario. Reports from the ground suggest ‘none’. Whatever is to be decided will be decided from New Delhi, that is what is being conveyed to the people of J&K every now and then.
NHPC, once described as East India Company by a former minister, Taj Mohiudin, takes Kashmir’s all power supply because the governments, that be, have surrendered everything, vis-à-vis power generation and distribution to this agency. Those who talk about Article 370 and 35 A should be reminded that playing dramatics over something that can never be achieved is futile. If you really want to serve your people, want them to live comfortable lives and breath freely, get some of your power projects back from NHPC.
Kashmiri people have all along been fooled with emotive slogans. Time is ripe to challenge those discourses. How will it help an ordinary Kashmiri if J&K’s Governor is redesignated as Sadr-e-Riyasat? How will it help Kashmiri people if Kashmir has a separate flag or constitution?
Symbolically these issues could have some sentimental values but practically, are these relevant in modern day world? Was Article 370 as pure in 2019 as it was when introduced in the Indian Constitution? No, it wasn’t. It was just a slogan that helped some political forces in Jammu and Kashmir to use it for their political survival.
Let the political parties here and the people get realistic. We need 24/7 power supply and for that we want NHPC to give us back some of our power projects. We want 24/7 water supply and for that, we want our own concerned departments to see where they are lacking. We want our jobless youth to get jobs and for that we want our own administration to see how to create jobs in all sectors beyond the government one.
We have had lots of slogans right from 1990. None of these materialised. So, lets get back to business. Sloganeering is over. It is time to deliver. Stop scoring points over each other. Let there be no A, B or C teams, let there be only one team – TEAM J&K, that works for the people of J&K, that understands peoples’ pain, that realises how Babodom has made them to suffer in absence of public representatives.
