J K News Today Commentary

The conduct of the Block  Development  Council polls in J&K is a milestone . It was unique in many respects . It was for the first time that such polls were seen and experienced by the people of the state . They had had no such experience in the past 70 years , and , to to be very frank , the block councils exist in the panchayati raj system in the rest of the country was unheard of in J&K. This state had  been alien to the real democracy.

The democracy in Kashmir was a sort of curtain that had its own lining and colour different from what used to happen in other states . This political wall has been breached for the people of the state where they can now be masters of their own development with Centre being quite liberal with the funds to encourage and make people partners in the development of the areas.

The results are important , but  of utmost importance is the spirit behind the polls , and what they seek to achieve and accomplish . In a place like J&K, such elections have a different meaning . The political blackout of the democracy at the village level was discomfiting the people the most.

The people in  the countryside who were left unheard all these decades have been conferred with a voice in the decision making and deciding about the development and the priorities thereof. This is real political empowerment . This has happened for the first time n the history of J&K , where despite the existence of Article 370 , no such politically important democratic exercise was undertaken by any of the  so-called political and democratically elected political governments. They were fed on meaningless and hollow slogans. The special status means special democratic rights and privileges to the people, not denying the basic democracy and development to the people. The political leadership of the Article 370 times flourished in the neglect of the common man and their miseries. BDC polls have changed all that.

The foundation for empowering the people in real sense  was laid  by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit  Shah who put the panchayat Raj in mission mode. Their efforts have yielded the results.