NEW DELHI, May 9: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is criss-crossing India in a marathon election campaign but, for the first time since 1996, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not contesting in Kashmir, where a 35-year uprising against Indian rule has killed tens of thousands of people.
Instead, the main contenders for the three seats in the Muslim-majority region are powerful local parties, the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They will contest against each other but both say they are opposed to the Hindu nationalist BJP and will align with the Congress party-led opposition alliance.
Analysts and opposition parties say the BJP decided to skip contesting the election because the outcome is likely to contradict Modis narrative of a peaceful, more integrated Kashmir since he removed the regions semi-autonomous status in 2019 and brought it under New Delhis control.
The BJP, along with allies, is contesting in every other part of India and is tipped to win a majority of parliaments 543 seats on the back of its Hindu-first image.
"Why are they absent from the election?" asked Omar Abdullah, a leader of the National Conference and a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state.
"Clearly there is a gap between what the BJP claims to have done and the reality on the ground," he said, speaking in his home in Kashmirs main city, Srinagar.
Modi says his 2019 decision brought normalcy to Kashmir after decades of bloodshed and that he will bring investments and jobs soon.
The federal Home (Interior) Minister Amit Shah backs up the governments position by claiming that youths now hold laptops in their hands instead of stones that they used to throw at security forces in the past. —REUTERS
