Time to ring in the polls in Jammu and Kashmir
The HinduIt’s what Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not say during his visit to Palli village in Jammu this week that was more important than what he did in a nearly 40-minute-long address to the public gathering. But the constitutional change effected in August 2019 was very much on his mind, as he used Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir and “ghati” in his address in Hindi to differentiate the regions of the almost three-year-old Union Territory. A long time since August 2019 Mr. Modi did not refer to his promise made to the people of India in August 2019 that Assembly polls would be held in J&K. Almost three years have passed since the State of Jammu & Kashmir was divided into two Union territories – J&K and Ladakh – and Article 370 was rendered irrelevant by hurried passage of legislation through both Houses of Parliament. Eroding local representation Whatever clout Kashmiri political parties had enjoyed in the Valley stands eroded by the August 2019 decisions.