Rahul Pandey, Sandeep Pandey
In a single stroke of decisions, the Indian government has revoked Articles 370 and 35A, bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into J&K and Ladakh, and reduced their status to Union Territories. While there are questions about the legal soundness of these decisions, their moral illegitimacy lies in the fact that none of the stakeholders in J&K have been consulted—native people of J&K (both current residents and those who have migrated out in the past decades), their local community leaders and political leaders belonging to either moderate or non-moderate ends of the ideological spectrum. Absolutely no one belonging to J&K was consulted or taken in confidence about the government’s decision.
Mainstream and moderate political leaders have been put under house arrest, all means of communication cut, curfew imposed and massive army troops deployed in the J&K region, since a few days before the government’s announcement of the decision in the parliament in Delhi. This means that communication among even the normal peace-loving people and their leaders is severely restricted, their mobility constrained, and no news is coming out of the region.
One must ask how would people in any other part of the country have reacted if their statehood was converted into a union territory status? It clearly shows the discriminatory attitude of the Indian state towards the people of J&K, primarily on religious basis. It also at the same time demonstrates the tremendous restraint the people of J&K have shown in the face of adverse situations. Because of a sustained right wing propaganda, most of the Indian people have come to believe the majoritarian mindset that J&K unfairly enjoys some special status. But no one bothers to ask, what privileges can people enjoy under a long term military like rule? A separate constitution for J&K may sound obnoxious, but the fact is, it is the Constitution of J&K which says that J&K is an integral part of India, not the Indian Constitution.
There are several other instances from around the country where people have asserted their autonomy. Nagaland wants a separate constitution and flag. It believes in the idea of co-existence with India without subjecting itself to the Indian Constitution. Siddaramaiah’s Karnataka government decided to have its own flag, the second state in the country after J&K to do so. Rabri Devi and Mamta Banerjee, as Chief Ministers, decided not to subject themselves to the Prime Minister of the day and violated protocols. Tamil Nadu doesn’t agree to the three language formula of the national education policy because of its opposition to imposition of Hindi.
The fact of the matter is, the idea of autonomy is at the core of democracy. The Article 243 (G) of the Indian Constitution envisions self-rule at the Village Panchayat level. Rather than opposing the special status of J&K, other states should demand a similar status for deepening of democracy.
All this unilateral curbing of basic political and societal freedom of J&K people and their leaders amounts to plain murder of democracy by the Government of India. The backdrop to this draconian decision of the government is the utter mishandling of Kashmir’s situation in the past five years as well as the mismanagement of India’s economy and the worsening employment situation over the past three years.
On the one hand, the number of terrorist incidents, deaths of Indian military personnel, and overt protests by ordinary Kashmiri people against Indian forces have risen rapidly during 2014–19. It culminated in the imposition of President’s rule in J&K in 2018. This indicates constant mishandling of J&K’s political and social situation by the Modi government, growing resentment among Kashmiri people, and breakdown of communication between the central government and the people of J&K.
A parallel trend has been the growing crisis of India’s economy, the rapid disinvestment of government owned firms, and the worsening industrial and employment situation over the past three years (especially since demonetisation). This grim economic story is reflected in slowing GDP, rising unemployment, rising bank NPAs, flight of foreign investment, rising fiscal deficit, and falling industrial output and consumption. Some industries, notably automobile, are witnessing absolute drops in production by 10–30%. In recent days several respected industry leaders have gathered courage to openly voice concern about the Indian economy despite the prevailing environment of fear of the present government. Experts have raised serious doubts over the economy and employment data released by the government that remains in denial about the economic situation. All this shows gross mismanagement of India’s economy and banks by the Modi government.
From these trends it appears that the Modi government is trying to hide its incompetency in managing India’s economy, employment and security situations by invoking the false spectre of nationalism. Ironically, in the name of politics of nationalism, national assets are up for sale. The government’s propaganda and event management are ably supported by a lot of mainstream media and IT/social media cells of the party and its supporters. These cells specialise in creating and spreading exaggerated as well as blatantly fake news posts that fuel people’s irrational fears and emotions.
This kind of nationalism is xenophobic and parasitic as it aims to pit our own people against each other and divide them. It not only diverts our attention away from the real problems of growing crisis in economy, employment and financial governance and erosion of basic freedoms of citizens, but also degrades us culturally and morally as a society.
It’s likely that many of the ordinary people of J&K, including those who have been largely democratic and peace-loving in the midst of militancy and violence during all these decades, might now adopt hardened views against the Indian government. It’s likely that communication will break down even more and distrust will deepen. If the Indian government responds by increasing the presence of armed forces in the region, many more rounds of vicious cycles might be in store. What will this mean for the future of the people of J&K and the rest of us?
We need to think where we are heading.
(Rahul is academic, entrepreneur and activist, Sandeep is social–political activist.)
