Pavan K. Varma | With trust as weapon, forge a Naya Kashmir
Since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was revoked, the people of Kashmir have literally been incarcerated in their own homes
Chanakya had a basic dictum: you cannot rule a people against their will. Perpetual intimidation of an unwilling populace is a tempting but unworkable solution. You have to win the trust of those you govern. It is good that this principle is at last being followed by the BJP government at the Centre where Kashmir is concerned. The importance of Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with 14 leaders from Kashmir on June 24 has to be understood in this context.
Since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was revoked, the people of Kashmir have literally been incarcerated in their own homes. Landline, mobile and Internet connections were cut; as many as 3,800 political leaders and activists were jailed or put under house arrest; curfews and lockdowns were imposed; and an army of troops and police personnel converted the Valley into occupied barracks.
The time to break through this impasse was long overdue. The PM himself acknowledged that he would have had the meeting earlier, where he could meet leaders face to face instead of virtually, but for Covid.
The most important takeaway from the meeting was that the principal Opposition parties in Kashmir, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC), attended. Both Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were present. The second takeaway was that, in spite of the strong feelings in both these parties against the abrogation of Article 370 — on which the Centre would not yield — there was no veto on discussions, and other issues of great import could be discussed.
The discussion on Article 370 was deflected by the simple fact that the question of its constitutionality was before the Supreme Court (SC) and, therefore, sub judice. There is, indeed, a good case for the reservations of the Kashmiri parties on the manner in which Article was revoked. According to the Constitution, while 370 is a temporary measure and can be done away with, this step requires a recommendation from the J&K Assembly. This was not obtained. The Assembly had been suspended. There was President’s rule. The powers of the Assembly were being exercised by the Centre directly through the governor. The government thus obtained the recommendation from the governor, their own nominee. That was tantamount to seeking concurrence from itself. The decision is under challenge, and rightly so, in the SC, and we would respectfully urge the highest court to expedite a decision.
Two other issues were on the table: the restoration of full statehood to J&K, and the holding of democratic elections. There is understandable resentment in Kashmir that their state has been converted into a Union Territory (UT). The Centre wisely gave in to this demand. The PM reiterated his resolve to restore statehood, and Amit Shah said that he had given this assurance on the floor of the House. The holding of democratic elections were made conditional on the completion of the delimitation exercise in J&K.
Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of the Assembly seats to represent changes in the population over time. Although delimitation for the rest of India is scheduled for 2026, there is no doubt that delimitation is overdue in J&K. Earlier, delimitation exercises were done in 1963, 1975 and 1995. Since no census was carried out in the state in 1991, there has been no delimitation since 2001. Delimitation will have an impact on the number of seats currently divided between Jammu and Kashmir. Currently, Kashmir has 46 seats, and Jammu 37. It is expected that after delimitation the number of seats in Jammu would go up, thereby upsetting the current numerical domination of Kashmir representatives.
The Delimitation Commission for J&K was set up on March 6, 2020, under the chairpersonship of retired SC judge, Ranjana Prakash Desai, with the mandate to finish the exercise in one year. The other members of the Commission were Union minister Jitendra Singh, Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP, and Farooq Abdullah, Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi of the NC. The Commission did not hold a single meeting until February 2021, ostensibly due to the pandemic. In the first meeting, only the BJP representatives attended. The NC leaders boycotted the meeting to protest against the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The key question is whether the representatives of the NC, and, indeed, other key Opposition parties like the PDP, will now cooperate with the delimitation process. Not having completed its work in the one-year deadline, the Commission has been given a year’s extension that lapses in March 2022. It is very important to keep to this deadline since the holding of democratic elections is conditional on it. Ultimately, the return of democracy in the troubled state is the best antidote to the existing resentment and anger. Democracy — if genuine — gives people the ventilation valve to express their feelings, and feel that they are stakeholders in unfolding events.
The way forward will be hugely dependent on the creation of trust, ending the dil ki doori. The Centre will have to walk the extra mile to ensure this. Its past actions have militated directly against it. Apart from incarcerating an entire state, BJP leaders have till recently reviled the grouping of the Opposition parties in Kashmir as the Gupkar gang. The Centre must take necessary steps to rectify the memories of the past, release political detainees wherever feasible, and carry out the delimitation exercise with utmost transparency and sincerity. An onus also rests on political parties in Kashmir. They must desist from taking extreme positions dictated by a sense of catering to the anger among the Kashmiris. They must work, as Ghulam Nabi Azad said, for the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits. And, they must desist from making — as Mehbooba Mufti seemed to suggest — Pakistan a stakeholder in what is entirely an internal matter of India. The Central government would also have to retain its full vigilance against terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which would do its best to derail a peace and reconciliation process. With trust as a weapon, the entire country hopes that normalcy would soon be restored, and we would have a Naya Kashmir.