A Silent Pandemonium

Kashmir is at a crossroads. Deep is the mistrust, broken are the promises, rampant is the disenchantment and weak are the ideas. It is pandemonium but a silent one. The politics is intensely chaotic behind closed doors but the outward appearances is of calm and order. And this needs to be carefully analysed.

What’s Happening

The result of 2024 legislative assembly elections gave a boost not so much to the National Conference as much as it did to the wider people of Kashmir. This elation was not so much because a particular party came to power but primarily for 3 reasons. One, that people expected the chosen government would take care of the grievances like the job crises, the high cost of living, electricity among others as they promised all of it in their manifesto. Second, the electorate felt empowered by collectively thwarting what they perceived as fascist forces . And third people expected some form of political struggle against the decisions of Delhi that were taken on 5 August 2019.

While as the government is failing on all the stated expectations of people and its base is constantly eroding, it’s intriguing to see how the other alternatives and ideas too stand abysmally weak. To grasp why, we must delve into the layers of mistrust and broken promises that have shaped Kashmir’s collective psyche.

Mistrust and Broken Promises

The Accession, the Delhi Agreement and subsequently Article 370 were all crafted to balance Kashmir’s Autonomy and India’s Sovereignty. Truth is that this special status was slowly eroded and much of it became the mirror image of the Indian constitution. Over decades, however, this special status was gradually eroded, often through amendments facilitated by state assemblies, until the BJP’s 2019 abrogation dismantled it entirely for ideological reasons using a “Cosmetic Legal Process”. Kashmiris have borne witness to this incremental breach of trust, embedding it into their shared memory as a symbol of series of betrayals by Delhi.

But at the same time the leadership in Kashmir too has majorly erred. Political leaders masqueraded as separatists to amass political power. The signaling and the messaging historically, even today, is the same. So Delhi, despite its peak of centralisation in Kashmir today, still deals with caution. To quote an example: historically, demands for a plebiscite echoed loudly. Today, subtler cues persist, like event taglines proclaiming “resistance through sports.” What exactly is this resistance, and against what? Such ambiguity fuels suspicion.

Then there were true secessionists at one point of time but when they routed to democracy in the later part of 80s, they became the victims of bias so brutally that Kashmir swamped into dark days and is wishing its way back ever since.

This collective distrust of all political actors—both local and national—has left a deep void in Kashmir’s political fabric. But when we carefully analyse this matter, the responsibility for the mishandling undeniably rests more on Delhi. It reflects their failure to adequately address the needs of just a few million people in a country with a population of over one and a half billion.

Weak Ideas

Contemporaneously all Ideas in Kashmir are weak. Separatism and its representation is at all time low, where we can safely say many of them are reconsidering their political route. And let’s not begrudge the separatists alone because the ideas propounded by the proponents of democracy are not relevant either, and solutions like Autonomy, Self-rule, Shared Sovereignty among others are rarely spoken about. The political experiments of central government post 2019, which tried to normalise the abrogation, were rejected too.

Truth is that Kashmir at the current juncture is in a “passive resistance” mode. However, the resistance this time is not so much for secession but for better Centre-State relations. The question lingers: Who will advocate for change? How should these strengthened relations be pursued? And what do they entail? We can sidestep “who” for now, but “how” and “what” demand clarity.

How & What

The dispute of Jammu and Kashmir is between India and Pakistan, and it is for the two countries to decide how to solve it. And yes, because it’s us who inhabit this part of the world, our view is of paramount importance. But there is absolutely no dispute about the fact that Kashmir, despite having religious homogeneity and geographical continuity with Pakistan, acceded to India. And this accession was premised on the pluralistic credentials of the country. This nonconformist grand gesture from Kashmir’s side was reciprocated by India by bestowing few concessions in the nature of centre-sate relations and federalism was slightly more pronounced than the rest. This often was derided as “pampering”, but truly a magnanimous act by a larger nation.

The answer to the the “how” is that the trust is breached from both sides over time but now is the time for healing; fundamentals of our federated structure must be restored. You may call it 370 or anything else but this part of the world happens to be the most unique in terms of geopolitical location, ecology, and culture; besides other demands for preservation and protection. We don’t want to be subjected to violations of our rights and subjected to ideological vendettas.

The answer to the “what” is that this is not a deceptive struggle for some ulterior motive. This struggle is for the restoration of the better centre-state relations. People understand this and therefore a vast majority is disenchanted and fatigued with every democratic and separatist idea, which does not speak plainly. After years of struggle people have turned skeptical towards all political movements which is why there happens to be a political vacuum despite an elected government in place. People are willing to prioritize authenticity over agitation but Delhi too should try to rule the hearts and not just the land. Because by ruling the former you automatically rule the latter.

The path forward lies in bridging divides through transparent governance and mutual grand gestures “a new”. Only then can Kashmir transcend its silent pandemonium toward genuine stability.

Author is a young political leader.