SRINAGAR: In Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, both former chief ministers have faced defeat in Indian Lok Sabha elections, indicating that the people of Kashmir strongly rejected pro-Indian politicians and BJP-linked political parties.
Mufti, who is the president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was defeated by the National Conference’s Gujjar leader Mian Altaf, while Omar, vice-president of the National Conference, faced a defeat from jailed Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid.
Conceding his defeat Omar Abdullah in a post on X said it is time to accept the inevitable. It is pertinent to mention that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies could only win two out of six seats from Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIJOK). BJP candidate Ashok Bhatt conceded the defeat and congratulated the winning candidates.
The opposition has attributed the BJP’s shameful defeat in Ladakh to the Modi government’s Jammu and Kashmir policy and actions. India’s polls may return Narendra Modi to power for a third term but Tuesday’s results did not have the taste of win for extremist prime minister.
Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, termed the results as “one of its major political blows for the BJP over the decade that it’s been in power”. “Modi is no longer the politically invincible figure that many had presumed he was,” said Kugelman. “The question moving forward is: how will this new reality impact his governance and his way of going regarding things? Will he be a humiliated leader and will he decide to scale back some of his motivations?”
