Irrationalism is an ugly and a sad constant in the delimitation exercise
J&K Peoples Conference always believed that the exercise of delimitation was an attempt to disempower and disenfranchise the people of Kashmir and we still believe that this process is designed to disempower the people of Kashmir. The delimitation commission’s refusal to change its earlier assertions are least surprising. And as if to add salt to the wounds of the Kashmiris we have a new wondrous invention in the form of a parliamentary constituency invented by merging two regions – South Kashmir and Rajouri. The inhabitants of these two regions have totally different aspirations, the problems and challenges they face are completely different, the topography is different and yet for reasons best known to the commission they actually merged two distinct regions to carve out a single Parliamentary Constituency.
The people of Kashmir are going through some of the most troubled times. There seems to be no let up in belittling them and “showing them their place”. Irrationalism is an ugly and a sad constant in the delimitation exercise. And it is not the macro division only. Even when it comes to internal redrawing of the respective constituencies, there is a lot of invention and creation. This whole exercise seems to be an exercise in disruption. They are trying to act as the new disruptors – disrupt the political system, disrupt the political equilibrium and disrupt and confuse the existing political class.
