When a Balaji Telefilms soap actor leaves Mumbai to return to militancy-ridden Kashmir and stand for Panchayat elections, you know something remarkable is underway. A peek into J&K's villages reveals how the oddest candidates are being elected, including an MBA degree-holder from the UK and a Sikh from a Muslim-dominated village
When a Balaji Telefilms soap actor leaves Mumbai to return to militancy-ridden Kashmir and stand for Panchayat elections, you know something remarkable is underway. A peek into J&K's villages reveals how the oddest candidates are being elected, including an MBA degree-holder from the UK and a Sikh from a Muslim-dominated village
A 27 year-old software engineer-turned-model and a familiar face on Balaji soaps such as Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kasautii Zindagi Ki, convinced his father to leave his job as a police officer in Kashmir, and move to Mumbai so the family could lead a life smoothed by regular electric supply, motorable roads and clean drinking water -- requisites of modern urban living. That was two years ago.
Raja Parvez Ali Mir, 27 Software engineer-turned-model, elected Sarpanch
of Lachipora, a village on the LoC in Baramulla district.
Recently, Raja Parvez Ali Mir,u00a0 visited his home located in the remote village of Lachipora in Uri tehsil of Baramullah district. He undertook a backbreaking journey on a serpentine dirt road to reach his home. This time, he had returned with a purpose. 
Fayaz Ahmed, 46 Elected Sarpanch of Tarzoo, one of the worst-affected
areas of J&K, to serve the cause of widows.
In April 2011, when the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat polls were announced, Mir decided to stand for elections. He wanted to drive down a concrete road to reach his home. He wanted to access email, which demanded uninterrupted electric supply and an Internet connection. And he wanted it for all the 1,500 villagers in the area, most of whom were peasants and daily wage workers. As it turned out, they wanted the same thing. 
Bikram Singh, 41 A Sikh, who was elected the Sarpanch of Beerwah
village in Budgam district by a majority of Muslim voters.
Illustrations/ Jishu Dev Malakar
On April 21, 862 of the 1,298 Lachipora residents, who came out to vote despite boycott calls, chose the chocolate-faced tinseltown boy over a 65 year-old religious preacher, Maulvi Sharief Khan, as their Sarpanch.
Lachipora's story is one of many that have emerged from the recent Panchayat elections in Kashmir, of village residents choosing to overlook class, religious, and gender differences to vote unlikely candidates into power.
A change is clearly underway, and the turnout at this year's poll bears this out too -- a whopping 80 per cent of the nearly 51 lakh people in the 22 districts of J&K cast their votes.
Ghulam Mohammed Bedar, 62 A Shia Muslim, he defeated seven
opponents in the Sarpanch elections of Hygam B village in Baramulla
district, by securing a large number of Sunni votes.
"There has been a total transformation in the state. Nobody expected that the young and the old in villages and towns would come together like this. It shows that democracy exists at the grassroots and indicates that people are eager for development and change," says Minister of Rural Development, Panchayat and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammed Sagar.
Unlikely winners
Bikram Singh, a 46 year-old Sikh, was elected Sarpanch of Beerwah village in Budgam district, populated mostly by Muslims. "The region is educationally backward. My village has only one school that was constructed in 1942. Now it has classes up to standard eight. Both my opponents were Muslims, who tried to play the communal card," says Singh over a patchy phone line. Evidently, the villagers decided to vote for a college graduate whom, they trust, would solve their litany of problems.
Meanwhile, in Hygam B village in Baramulla district, a 62 year-old Shia Muslim defeated seven opponents in the Sarpanch elections. Ghulam Mohammed Bedar secured a majority, thanks mainly to Sunni votes. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Kashmiri politics would be aware of the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims in the region that have erupted in severe ideological conflicts in the past.
Bedar is a well-to-do fruit farmer and district President of Agitation Trust Kashmir, an organisation that provides education, aid, uniform and books to underprivileged children. Bedar, who also runs a school for poor children in his village, credits his victory to his work. A little away from Hygam B, but in the same district, lies Tarzoo, one of the worst militancy-affected areas. Here, Fayaz Ahmed Naiko, a 41 year-old son of an army officer, stood for the elections to serve the cause of widows.
"The poor rarely receive the benefits that they are entitled to," says Naiko. His 38 year-old wife, Roshan Ara has also been elected as a panch. "She wants to ensure that widows get their pension, and earn a living through tailoring units or other smaller employment agencies. She has lived with them, she knows what it feels like to be a child without a father, or a widow without a husband --the only earning member of the family."
In Wussan Kunzer of Baramulla district, Asha Krishan, a Kashmiri Pandit, defeated a Muslim candidate in the Panchayat polls to become the first non-Muslim Sarpanch in the Valley. Far away from Baramulla, in the remote border village of RS Pura in Jammu, an MBA degree-holder from Derbyshire, UK, who returned to India in 2009, has been elected as the head of his village Panchayat. "They voted for me because I am young and literate. People are keen that educated youth represent them," says 28 year-old Gurmeet Singh Bajwa.
What triggered the change?
Mir would earn Rs 15,000 a day as a model and an actor in Mumbai. Yet, he stood for the Panchayat elections in his hometown, earlier this year. His father did not approve. "There is no point in being a spectator. The resources in my village are depleting. We need water and a good drainage system. As clich ufffdd as it may sound, our requirements are very basic ufffd bijli, paani, sadak (electricity, water, roads)," says the youngster.
Then there is the other 'issue' of corruption. In Bajwa's village, close to 60 per cent of the villagers are belowu00a0 the poverty line, but do not have BPL cards. Their landlords, says Bajwa, hoard the cards to reap benefits.
"Nearly 98 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, but the canal irrigation system isn't viable. The canals haven't been desilted since I returned in 2009 from the UK," says Bajwa.
Sarpanch Bedar too, is concerned about the irrigation of his Hygam B village. "The agricultural land is turning barren. Our rivers give us sweet water but the government channelises our water to towns and cities, leaving us to use water from tubewells. I have been to Delhi and seen a lot of signboards talking about schemes for farmers and agriculture...where are those benefits?"
Naiko, the son of an armyman, points to the problems in the implementation of the Indira Awas Yojana, a housing scheme meant for the poor. Most locals whose houses have been burnt or destroyed due to natural calamities are yet to get houses under the yojna. Says Naiko, towns such as Sopore receive Rs 1.05 lakh to build a house under the scheme, while residents of villages get just Rs 48,000.
While the issues remain the same, the attitude seems to be shifting. Villagers ufffd once caught in the crossfire between the military and the militants ufffd appear more eager than ever to solve problems of unemployment and lack of amenities. Their choice of candidates is a testimony to that change. Vijay Malla, editor of Jammu-based news agency Kashmir Independent Press, agrees. "People wouldn't come out and vote because of the fear of militants, even 10 years ago. However, this time, they voted for good governance," says Malla, a resident of Roop Nagar, Jammu, since 1990.
The critic's stance
"I don't think there is a big change," says Inayat Jehangir, J&K Bureau Chief of the Press Trust of India, who has been a journalist in the Valley since 1999. "This whole talk about people giving democracy a chance doesn't make sense. People in Kashmir have never been averse to democracy. Democracy has been averse to people," he points out. Detractors also feel that the Centre needs to offer the same brand of democracy in Kashmir as it does in other states.
"Kashmir has a form of democracy that is controlled and restrained. Has our Chief Minister ever been as independent as Mayawati or any other CM? Even the judiciary has never played the role it is playing in other states," says Justice Bilal Nazki, whou00a0 served as a High Court judge in J&K between 1995 and 1997. He retired as the Chief Justice of Orissa in November 2009.
The existing Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act of 1989 does not ensure autonomy of the Panchayats, making them a near-toothless body without financial or decision-making powers. "Currently the Panchayats have no power and can only supervise and listen to people. Unless amendments are made to the Panchayati Raj Act or an ordinance is passed to give them powers, things won't change," Jehangir points out.
Filmmaker Sanjay Kak, who edited a recently-published book on Kashmir, called Until My Freedom Has Come, agrees. "Most of the elected members and voters don't know what powers the Panchayat has or the funds they are entitled to. People are pushed into believing that things are changing. Some good may come out of it, but it's not a major change."u00a0u00a0While critics may have a point, the Panchayat elections have managed, at the very least, to signal a vital change in a way of thinking.
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