Statehood for J&K

This is election  time in Kashmir. It is both visible and audible. Apart from the rallies and song-blaring  campaign vehicles, it is the sound of the smart phones  that tells what is happening and where. The people  are glued to their phones, hearing what  Home Minister Amit Shah said in Jammu on the restoration of statehood after releasing BJP’s 25-point manifesto. Perhaps that is the most replayed part of his speech.

Home Minister’s  speech is in chaste Hindi, it is not very difficult for the common Kashmiris to understand the words and  meanings. In the past five years – say after the abrogation of Article 370  in August 2019 – and especially   after Manoj Sinha took over as Lieutenant Governor  in August 2020, the people here are used to hearing the important announcements in Hindi, a sort of tryst with the changing times.

I remember, Farooq Abdullah  once remarked: “My Hindi has improved ever since I became member Parliament.” That was in 1980s. Now Kashmiris don’t have to be  in the parliament to learn Hindi. Faces and voices of Hindi heartland are in  the middle of them. They are making efforts to strengthen the idea of India through the use of national language in their conversations and speeches.

Amit Shah told his audience that “National Conference-Congress alliance and all others who are promising them statehood  are misleading  you, because it is the Centre that can do so, as they don’t have any power to do.”

It sounds plausible. There is a political sense in it. There, however, is a rider-the statehood at an appropriate time. What is that appropriate time? This question rings all around. Perhaps time will deliver answer about  the appropriate time. Patience has its own reward. That’s what we  were taught in our  times in schools, but this is high-speed internet generation  that googles  to find out easy and quick answers. Home Minister promised lap tops to students, so they were expecting him to  spell out the time frame for the statehood.

For the people and parties in Jammu and Kashmir, the quest for statehood is also a search for their identity and dignity. They had this status since the times of their ancestors. So, it is natural for them to aspire for its restoration.

Politically speaking, why should the Centre oblige the parties that have been accusing it of doing everything  wrong to the people. A between the line message  is that if BJP comes to power in J&K – the party is aiming at 50 plus seats in the House of 90 – then statehood may be restored sooner than later .

Strategically, the Centre is conscious of the fact that  before restoring the status to J&K, it will have to justify why the state was  demoted  to union territory, what benefits  this step has delivered to masses in this territory and to the rest of the nation. Centre  has its own ideas. As Union Minister G Kishan Reddy  told reporters in Jammu that the decision to make J&K as a UT was in the “national interest.”  For the majority in the country everything that Centre has done since August 5, 2019 in J&K   serves national interest, which ranges from dismantling edifice of violence, granting citizenship rights to West Pakistan refugees, political reservation to Scheduled Tribes, grant of ST status to Paharis and so on. This also includes curbs on  movement of erstwhile separatists. Separatism and separatists have acquired two different dimensions though.

Amit Shah who piloted the bill for abrogation of Article 370 and declared the division of the state into two UTs on August 5, 2019, has a great responsibility  before the government announces statehood for J&K. Somewhere down the line  there was a trust deficit between the two sides  that prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say  that he is aiming at removing “Dil aur Delhi se durian”- distances and differences between  J&K and Delhi. That work seems to be in progress.

The current electoral exercise is historic, though the fact is that the people in J&K will be voting for the most disempowered Assembly  in 2024, with all the powers vested in Lieutenant Governor. History has its own ways of scripting itself.

The election results would be important  on two counts, the number of people voting-take it from me it is going  to be multiple  of what was  witnessed during Lok Sabha elections. Second, the results will determine which side of the two – BJP or the Kashmir’s regional parties  win maximum number of seats. There is a prediction that this would be a hung assembly which both the sides deny, but the verdict should be left to the voters who are intelligent enough to decide who should be in the government.

The most important thing is the narration. It is inevitable that there is going to be a lot of debate on the issue of the “dead and buried Article 370” versus its resurrection. Charges and counter-charges also mark the political discourse during election time. But all sides must remember that this is an election which will determine the future of J&K, any rhetoric on parochial or communal lines would not only be dangerous but also raise a question mark over the credibility of the political voices.

There should be  an attempt to build a trust  rather than break it. I would be personally looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election speeches, as his speech at Sher-e-Kashmir stadium on December 8, 2014, is still echoing: “Our effort is to make the state of J&K   a role model of  peace , development and harmony” in the world .