Skip to main content

Modi govt's Kashmir moves suggest 'sinister plan' to have one party rule like in China

Green Nobel awardee Prafulla Samantara, part of NAPM team, detained in Srinagar  
By Sandeep Pandey*
A National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) delegation was detained at Srinagar airport on the morning of October 4, 2019 by the district administration of Badgam and then sent back to Delhi. Individual notices in the name of three activists issued by district magistrate of Badgam say that there was an apprehension that these activists would organise a protest in Srinagar on the issue of abrogation of Article 370 which could pose a threat to law and order and hence their entry into Jammu & Kashmir was being restricted till further order.
A Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) officer was confused about why should people be sent back from Srinagar airport. If the government doesn't want them to enter J&K why doesn't it stop them when they are boarding their flights to Srinagar? Before the momentous decision was taken on August 5, when tourists were being sent back, in the end when one of them remained, a 225 seater plane was sent by the Indian Air Force with one passenger! Isn't it squandering tax-payer's money?
The NAPM delegation was planning to visit J&K for two days and wasn't planning to organise any protests or hold any meetings. It was merely planning to meet some common people to find out what hardships they were subjected to because of the various restrictions imposed on the people of J&K.
While the Union government is claiming and the Prime Minister has declared in several languages from Houston that 'everything is all right’, that is clearly not the case otherwise why should the government have to maintain the clampdown even two months after the decision taken to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A as well as division of state of J&K into two parts, downgrading both of them to union territories. There would not have been a need to prevent groups like NAPM from visiting J&K.
All means of communication, except for land line phones, are inoperational. Newspapers – except for one 'Brighter Kashmir’, which was spotted at the airport – are not being printed. The government is desperately trying to open the schools in Kashmir Division but parents find it difficult to send children because of uncertainty related to transportation.
NAPM team detained at Srinagar airport. Second from left: Sandeep Pandey
It is also the case that some schools are being used as camps for para-military forces. Most markets are still closed. Some shops open but only during morning 6 am to 9 am hours. Petrol pumps also open for a few hours every day. The fruit growers are finding it difficult to sell their produce to their customary buyers. Even though the government has agreed to buy their produce but the entire trade and market has been disrupted.
While the government claims that there is no curfew imposed but the fact is Section 144 of CrPC has been applied and people cannot move about freely. Even the Kashmiri officers of J&K government are subject to frisking and security checks by central security forces.
Most social and political activists, who could mobilise people against the central government's twin decisions, have been either sent to jails in different parts of the country or kept under arrest in their houses or some common locations in Srinagar converted to sub-jail. Most of these detentions are illegal, without any written orders of any authority.
In response to a Right to Information query the Home Ministry has pretended ignorance about any orders to block telecommunications and internet or evacuation of tourists and detention of political leaders and social activists. When the curfew-like situation ends there is also a need for enquiry into possible casualties during this clampdown. Right now all news of protests and the reaction of security forces are totally blocked.
There is talk of resuming the democratic process in the state of J&K by holding Block Panchayat elections. However, Panchayat is a state subject under 7th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is now going to be 14 months since the state is without an elected government. It is the duty of state government of J&K to hold the Panchayat elections.
The Central government should facilitate in holding the state assembly elections at the earliest and then also get the decisions taken by it approved by the state assembly, if it believes what it has done is in the interest of the people of J&K.
Only state assembly's endorsement of central government's decision can give it some legitimacy otherwise the manner in which it has been done is outright anti-democratic. If a similar decision, as has been taken by the government with respect to J&K, was taken in the context of any other state without consulting its people would the people have supported it?
Badgam district magistrate's orders
The Central government has to trust the people of J&K. All communications restrictions have to be lifted. Home Minister is claiming that government's decision will bring development to the state. The reality is even the companies which were there are now packing up to leave as they find the atmosphere not conducive to business. Which company would like to invest is a state in which normalcy doesn't prevail?
The Indian Railways has claimed that it has suffered a loss of Rs 2 crore because of the ongoing clampdown. Normalcy is not possible with the massive presence of army and para-military, which should be removed from internal areas of J&K and entrusted with the task of defending borders and checking infiltration of men and material from across the border. Internal law and order should be handled by the state government with the help of J&K police.
The future of the state has to be determined by the state government as a representative of the sentiment of people of J&K. The earlier the government of India understands this the faster the situation will return to normalcy.
Centre has done a potential damage by discrediting the state level political parties and their leaders. How does it plan to fill this vacuum?
It is interesting to note that while the Government of India (GoI's) is negotiating with NSCN (IM) or the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac Muivah) and with Bodos for a concept of shared sovereignty and separate statehood, respectively, it doesn't think Kashmiris worth having a dialogue with. Just as NSCN (IM) represents popular sentiment of people of Nagaland, Hurriyat Conference is a representative of people of J&K.
Only an elected government in J&K can bring normalcy. However, the Central government has done a potential damage by discrediting the state level political parties and their leaders. Are corruption and dynastic rule only a phenomenon in J&K? How does it plan to fill this vacuum, unless it has sinister plans to have only a one party rule in the country like in China?
Otherwise it is not clear how the government intends to restore democracy in the state without taking people of J&K into confidence. How long does the central government intend to rule J&K through the Governor and the armed forces? It is impossible to change people's opinion in government's favour by using force, the reverse is likely to happen.
---
*Magsaysay award winning social and political activist

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan  In a groundbreaking  study  spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.
Post a Comment
»

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram  India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.
Post a Comment
»

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.
59 comments
»

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra  Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today. 
Post a Comment
»

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat
1 comment
»

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...
Post a Comment
»

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah  A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”
Post a Comment
»

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah  Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.
Post a Comment
»

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah*  ​A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards . 
Post a Comment
»