Bichroo (Kulgam), Dec. 2: Shahnawaz Ahmad has just defied the man he worships.

He wants to unseat the man whose critics say doesn’t worship — Kashmir’s communist face Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami.

So Shahnawaz, a postgraduate in mathematics and a diehard supporter of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, voted today in Kulgam, Kashmir’s lone red bastion, defying the separatist hard-liner’s call to boycott the elections.

“Yes, I came out to vote him (Tarigami) out because we want change,” Shahnawaz said.

Tarigami is a three-time MLA from Kulgam, where the CPM and the Jamaat-e-Islami are locked in a battle of ideologies.

The Jamaat has been at the forefront of the struggle for Kashmir’s secession, and Geelani owes his origin to this group, believed to have played a key role in the formation of the militant group Hizb-ul Mujahideen. Shahnawaz is a Jamaat sympathiser.

The communists say Kulgam is their “stronghold”, but across swathes of south Kashmir, places like Homshalibugh and Kulgam are home to “Jamaati” villages, like Bichroo, Tarigami and Arwani.

For Jamaat supporters, Tarigami has been a thorn in their side. To them, it is a battle between “atheism and faith”. “People here love Islam and how do you like some people preaching atheism here?” said Mohammad Yousuf Rather, a Jamaat activist from Tarigami, the home village of the CPM leader. Tarigami, to them, is “anti-God”.

“Propaganda,” say Tarigami’s supporters. “Communism is not about atheism. It seeks development for all,” said Nazir Ahmad, a CPM sympathiser. “Tarigami sahib believes in God more than they do. He is well versed in the Quran. Moreover, he is not involved in any scandal the way other politicians are.”

The separatists, including the Jamaat, have been boycotting elections since 1989. In 1996, when the first Assembly elections were held since the outbreak of militancy, Tarigami, the CPM’s state secretary, won, helped by the National Conference (NC) and the boycott by Jamaat sympathisers.

He has been re-elected twice since then — in 2002 and 2008 — and over the years has helped build a network of roads, hospitals and schools in Kulgam.

Because the NC-Jamaat rivalry runs deep, many Jamaat sympathisers are inclined to vote for the Opposition PDP.

The constituency saw a turnout of 55 per cent, against 61 per cent in 2008. A turnout of around 71 per cent was recorded in the 18 constituencies that voted in the second phase today.