The ongoing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are historic in many ways. The first election to the UT legislature after the abrogation of Article 370, by virtue of which the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed a unique constitutional position for about 73 years within the Union of India, has much significance the in backdrop of banned Jamaat-e-Islami deciding to field its representatives for the first time after the much-hyped elections of 1987 which are believed to have been rigged.
Going by its time-tested precedent of tactical retreat, to revive and rebuild its structures following the crackdown by the administration under UAPA in the recent past, Jamaat-e-Islami has decided to field its representatives as independent candidates from more than a dozen assembly segments in Kashmir region. Notwithstanding its strong and committed foot soldiers, Jamaat cannot even influence the outcome of the results owing to the disillusionment surrounding its duplicity.
The national media has given this impression that Jamaat-e-Islami could help undercut the power of regional forces like the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party. Going by the perception of the public, this argument seems far from the reality. However, The Jamaat-e-Islami’s participation in elections would certainly delegitimize secessionism and religious extremism. And this is what the intelligence agencies are precisely looking at. Jamaat’s participation in electoral politics marks the end of an era which was dominated by the separatist narrative in Kashmir, with Jamaat having the sole proprietorship over the idea of separatism.
This is all together a separate debate that even before the inception of armed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, Jamaat-e-Islami, despite its ideological influence over a sizable section of educated youths, could not make significant political imprints. By that account Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir is no different from its ideological mother, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. However, this is not the only similarity between the two. Like Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Kashmir’s Jamaat-e-Islami has functioned as a semi- government organization. Before 1989, Jamaat willingly and wittingly played the role of a saboteur in the hands of the successive regimes, vetoing the dissent by invoking religion.
For Jamaat, it could be a win-win situation as it could secure the lifting of the ban by the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, in the process it is likely to lose its moral authority and may end up as a non-entity.
