The Government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 has blighted the hope of the Kashmiri people for developing working relations with the Centre
If the level of democracy in a state is measured on the criteria provided by Abraham Lincoln — “Government of the people, by the people and for the people,” today’s Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) will score lowest or may even be disqualified to get recognition of a democratic state. Anyway it is now a Union Territory. The abrogation of Article 370 is an insidious inflexion point in India’s history. The State that had already weakened by the malicious intentions of our neighbouring country, which left no stone unturned in fuelling militancy, is now jolted by some forceful decisions taken by the Government. The most diabolical among them is the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A without even taking the State’s Legislative Assembly’s consent. On the pretext of improving the State’s economy, depriving the local people of their rights is not an economic correction but a political crime.
Not so exclusive: Under Article 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, people of J&K were conferred upon with some special rights, including their choice to accept or reject the revocation of Article 370. And as per the agreement signed between Maharaja Hari Singh and the then Indian Government, the Article could be scrapped or amended only after the approval of the State’s Constituent Assembly. But these special rights do not make J&K unique as similar provisions are provided to 10 more States/Union Territories of India under Article 371, which includes Nagaland, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Mizoram and Manipur. In addition to the above mentioned States that enjoy special Constitutional features, there are five more States viz, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Odisha and Rajasthan that have demanded the special category status. Residents of other States cannot buy property in Himachal and Sikkim but usually, people of Kashmir are targetted as inequality mongers across the country.
Blot on democracy: Despite being a Muslim-majority State, leaders here decided to stay with India and went against the two-nation theory in 1947. Their hope got shattered when a myopic Government at the Centre scrapped their special rights without envisaging its ramifications. Articles 370 and 35A acted as a strong bonding force between the Centre and the State and it is because of this that successive Governments at the Centre could not repeal the said articles for the last 70 years now. The Government’s decision has forced a group of intellectuals comprising doctors, journalists, academicians and a retired Air Vice Marshal to sign a petition condemning the revocation of Article 370.
Leaders of the ruling party, who claim that one of the purposes to withdraw Article 370 is to ensure the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland, will be shocked to know that these Kashmiri Pandits, Dogras and Sikhs belong to the group of 64 members, who called this act as “unconstitutional and in violation of the historical promises.” They expressed their concern and anger in the following words, “We reiterate the fact that we the people of Jammu and Kashmir were not consulted and no decision about our future, taken without our consent can be termed as legitimate. We condemn and reject this unilateral, undemocratic and unconstitutional imposition on us.”
Economically non-viable idea: According to BJP, the foremost rationale of abrogating Article 370 is giving a boost to economic development in the Valley and promoting tourism activities in the State. They claim that Article 370 was a blockade in Kashmir’s way to prosperity as industries were reluctant to invest in the region without any right to purchase property. But these are baseless claims as statistics provide somewhat a different proposition. In comparison to the national average, J&K’s poverty ratio was almost half, ie, of 21.92 per cent and 10.35 per cent respectively. Additionally, on many developmental indices, J&K has surpassed even the Prime Minister’s model State — Gujarat. For instance, the Infant Mortality rate in J&K was 24 per 1000 in 2016, whereas it was 30 in Gujarat.
Democracy under siege: Since acquiring power in politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi always tried to resolve the Kashmir issue through fascist policies to suit his ideological origins. He did nothing except escalating terror in the Valley with his unamiable attitude and stern decisions. Soon after getting an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014, he turned Kashmir into a battleground. One shouldn’t forget that extremism is key to Pandora’s box and suppression of people can never help in placating them. People in the Valley are now feeling jilted and alienated. The abrogation of Article 370 has blighted the hope of Kashmiri people for developing working relations with the Centre.
(The writer is a political analyst)
