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J&K deserves its own place

As the long-dormant soul of India has awakened again
10:58 PM Jan 27, 2025 IST | Arun Joshi
j k deserves its own place
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On 26th January 2025, the 76th Republic Day, the leaders and others went in a recall mode while simultaneously portrayed a vision of theirs for the future. It was but natural, as it was also the celebration time for the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Indian constitution.

Jammu and Kashmir was served a reminder about the virtues of the Indian constitution. There was a historical reason for that, as for all practical purposes the Indian constitution in its full form was applied to the state before it was split into two union territories on 31st October 2019. There are two presumptions- that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were unaware of the  Constitution of India and its   all-time relevant features, and secondly that the Indian constitution came into J&K only after August 2019 with the abrogation of Article 370. These presumptions are open to debate if not entirely misplaced.

On the very first day when Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India on October 26, 1947, it accepted the Indian sovereignty, and its natural sequel was that it would accept the Indian constitution. There was some confusion  owing to the fact that the state had acceded but not merged with the Union of India, but that was a wing to politics born out of the conflict inflicted on the land and the people due to Pakistan’s invasion of the  princely state. The pain of that invasion is still a thorn in the flesh of J&K, and the rest of the country, in the shape of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

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Subsequently, when the Indian Constitution’s draft was completed and adopted on November 26, 1949 and January 26, 1950 respectively, the state of Jammu and Kashmir accepted the supremacy of the Indian constitution. Its own constitution came into being only in January 1957. The separate constitution of J&K much before it came into being, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was deposed and arrested on August 9, 1953. Sheikh Abdullah, the first Prime Minister of J&K could not have ordered his own dismissal and arrest. That was done at the behest of Government of India. That, in itself is a testimony to the supremacy of the Indian Union. Rest is history. Before August 5, 2019, more than 400 central laws had been extended to J&K. So, it proves that the Indian Constitution was applied and respected in J&K. All the governments, without any exception, facilitated the extension of the central laws. The fact is that Article 370 was hollowed out much before it was declared dead and buried. The abrogation only led to the change of psyche as the Article 370 existed in name only. Its original contour and content had faded and retreated into the history.

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My own view is that the Modi Government did away with the  Article 370 with three main objectives – (a) to bring down a constitutional wall, and also with it to demolish the misperception  in the minds of  many in J&K that this particular provision alone was the sole guarantor of their identity, a fear existed that merging with the Indian Union would take away all the uniqueness of the state and its people, (b) to end the conflict that characterized Article 370 as a shield  which also injected fears in the minds of the people across the country that even if Kashmir would not slip out of hands of the nation but it will definitely  remain an island of secession  targeting India (c) to  give J&K a taste of infrastructural development  and investment in peace times.

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After more than five years of the abrogation of Article  370, two things stand out: J&K had not seen such a long spell of normalcy in the past 35 years – normalcy is not the complete absence of the terror incidents, it is  about the changed dynamics of the daily life, and there is absolutely no doubt that the pace that infrastructural development witnessed during this period was witnessed neither prior to 1990 nor after that  because the psyche of conflict was always there. There always was an attempt to manage the conflict and its fall out, it is for the first time that the Centre under the prime minster Modi is working to find a permanent solution to the crisis – some elements of the crisis still continue.

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This is a big transformation. This shows that how  the Centre has established and  reinforced the relevance of the  Indian Constitution  in Jammu and Kashmir as all the progress and infrastructural connect  through  railways, highways, tunnels, investments  have  picked up speed after the  Indian Constitution became  the sole constitution for J&K like the rest of the country.

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It also opens question whether J&K has got its promised due under the Constitution. The people have welcomed all the virtues and rights that came  with the  A to Z application of the Indian constitution, for they know it as they are more aware of the realpolitik  that Article 370 will never get restored – but they want their status as Indian citizens to be  restored to where they were before 31st October 2019. There is also a recognition that Ladakh as a separate Union Territory will not come back, but there is a promise that Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have made to the people of J&K about the return of the statehood. When PM and Amit Shah make promise that is automatically read as commitment. This Republic Day they were reminded of that commitment.

Here I would like to recall President Droupadi Murmu’s historic words in her speech on January 25, on the eve of the Republic Day. The phrase awakening of the soul of India sums it all. She said: “Republic Day is a matter of collective joy and pride for all citizens. Seventy-five years, someone might say, is the only blink of an eye in the life of a nation. No, I will say, not these past 75 years. This has been the time when the long-dormant soul of India has awakened again, taking strides to regain its rightful place in the comity of nations.”

Jammu and Kashmir is aspiring to be an equal partner in this journey as “long dormant soul of India has awakened. It wants its rightful place among all the states of this nation. Delivery on promises tastes sweet when it comes on time. Who knows it better than Prime Minister Modi under whose leadership the country is taking strides toward Viksit Bharat in 2047.  J&K as crown of India needs its frontline role.