In the first legislative assembly elections in India’s Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) province in over a decade, Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami is the sole candidate representing the political left movement. He is contesting from the state’s Kulgam constituency.
77-year-old Tarigami is a central committee member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and has been elected from the same constituency to the J&K state assembly for four consecutive terms since 1996. He was a member of the Assembly when it was dissolved in November 2018 by the Indian Central Government.
The Central Government led by the ultra right-wing and Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dissolved the J&K state assembly in November 2018 after their coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost its majority due to the defection of the latter.
On August 5, 2019, the BJP government, arbitrarily abolished Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution which provide special status to J&K. It also bifurcated the state into two, J&K and Ladakh, and downgraded to a union territory governed directly from Delhi. None of these decisions had been made in consultation with representatives from the region and was met with widespread opposition from the people of Kashmir and progressives across India. The decisions went into effect on October 31, 2019.
These elections will be the first since the downgrading of J&K.
Following these unprecedented changes to J&K in 2019, the Central Government unleashed a crackdown on the people and leaders in Kashmir. Left leader Tarigami was included in this crackdown and was put in house arrest and under a gag order for months after the abolition of Article 370.
In addition to attacks from the BJP Central Government over his opposition to repressive policies in the region, Tarigami has also been critical of insurgent and extremist forces in the state and faced physical attacks by these forces on several occasions.
Restoration of statehood and economic justice
In these upcoming elections, one of the key focuses of Tarigami has been on the reversal of the Central Government’s arbitrary decision to downgrade the special status of J&K, calling the move an attack on Kashmiri people’s self-respect and dignity. He has demanded the immediate restoration of the statehood for J&K and an end to the repressive tactics used by the Central Government against the Kashmiri people.
J&K is one of the most militarized places in the world. There are no official figures available but reports estimate that there could be as many as 600,000-700,000 Indian soldiers in the state compared to a total population of a little over 12 million people. There are repeated allegations of human rights violations committed by the Indian armed forces against the people in the name of fighting terrorism and separatism.
Tarigami has criticized the move by the BJP to attempt to undermine the remaining democratic voices in the state by using political pressure and putting proxy candidates in the elections. He claims that the BJP wants to defeat all the candidates that have criticized it for poor governance and maintaining an oppressive apparatus in J&K. During a campaign rally last week, Tarigami said that “they know they will face tough challenges and be questioned for the harm they have done to the people of J&K. Since they can’t compete with us, they have brought in a new front, but with the same background as the ruling dispensation.”
Jamaat -e-Islami, an extremist group which has been banned by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, has put a candidate forward against Tarigami nevertheless. Prior to its ban, Jamaat-e-Islami had boycotted all the elections held in the state since the 1980s alleging they were a sham.
Apart from the issues related to political oppression and constitutional status of J&K, Tarigami has been putting emphasis on the issues related to the economic well-being of the state and its youth, which is facing an unprecedented crisis of unemployment and lack of real opportunities.
The elections in J&K are scheduled to take place between September 18 and October 1 in three phases. Kulgam will vote in the first phase on September 18. The electors will vote for a total 90 representatives from across J&K.
