No words are too strong to condemn the orgy of violence, loot and arson in certain parts of Srinagar on Tuesday. The National Conference leaders cannot avoid their share of responsibility for it. They, of course, did not incite their so-called supporters to attack localities where by and large the people had voted for the Congress (I) in the recent elections to the state legislature. Indeed, Dr. Farooq Abdullah had made a “let bygones be bygones” appeal in the wake of his victory. But the onslaught on innocent people is the direct result of the kind of election campaign that the National Conference and its allies had conducted. They had whipped up passions and failed to prevent their followers from indulging in large-scale violence during both the campaign and the actual polling. They could have failed to restrain their supporters even if they had tried. The tragedy is that there is not much evidence they tried seriously enough.
It is easy to adopt an above-the-battle stance on the issue of violence in the Kashmir valley and blame both parties equally for it and to explain Dr. Abdullah’s inability to ensure peaceful behaviour on the part of those professing loyalty to him on the ground that he lacks the necessary experience, confidence and stature. The first would be an unworthy attempt at escapism. The Congress (I) is a minority party in the valley; it did not control the administration; as such it could not possibly hope to gain any advantage by provoking violence. The National conference is by far the stronger party; it was in charge of the state apparatus; and it found it intolerable that the Congress (I) should have had the audacity to challenge is monopoly in the valley. As for the second point, there is some merit in it. Dr. Abdullah still lacks the necessary experience and stature. But that cannot detract from the inference that the National Conference leadership is responsible for creating an atmosphere in which alone the dastardly attack on the predominantly Shia localities in Srinagar could have taken place.
We are only too familiar with communal violence in India. It has not only gone on and on but has got extended to new groups. Who ever heard of Hindu-Sikh clashes or even of Hindu-Christian fights before? But the kind of violence we have witnessed in Srinagar adds a new dimension to the age-old problem. Political parties have used communal and sectarian platforms with the result that politics and sectarianism have merged as politics and communalism have merged – in the Akali attacks on the Nirankaris, for instance. But it is not easy to recall another incident in which supporters of a political organisation have attacked people belonging to a different sect after an election because they have voted for a different party.