JK News Today Commentary
In an interview with ANI , a leading news agency of the country on Monday ( April 15) , Prime Minister Narendra Modi reflected on the courage he summoned to abrogate Article 370 in August 2019, which has changed the whole landscape and profile of Jammu and Kashmir
The . “Abrogation of Article 370 was our party’s commitment. When it was my turn, I showed courage and did away with it,” Prime Minister said . This was a statement that reflected the challenge that the party and the nation had to face before abrogating Article 370 but flinched all the years since independence till the arrival of August 5, 2019 on the calendar.
This statement is not just for the domestic issue , which is dominating the BJP’s national campaign for Lok Sabha elections 2024, but internationally too. This buried many ghosts of the past that had come to challenge the complete sovereignty of India over one of the most sensitive and critical states in the country . The Article 370 , no matter how hollowed out it was at the time of its abrogation on August 5, 2019, but it was a symbol of parallel sovereignty that did not lie only in the constitutional provision but also the mindset to which it had given birth across Jammu and Kashmir. In the Orwellian terms , “ All are equal but some are more equal than others.”
Jammu and Kashmir, with its special status under Article 370 which had come about during highly critical situation in Jammu and Kashmir – the war with Pakistan sponsored tribesmen on the soil of the erstwhile princely state , and the matter had been referred to the United Nations , and things were quite abnormal . The abnormal laws are born in abnormal times cannot be made relevant for all the times to come . A review was must , but there was a national hesitation
That Article 370 cannot be abrogated had become. A matter of faith for certain sections . Not that the Central governments in pre-Modi era were not aware of the sense of discrimination that the Article 370 had inflicted on the rest of the country. They knew what price were they paying in sustaining a notion across the country and in the international community by retaining this particular constitutional provision , which offered an illusion to the people in Kashmir that it was the only shield that could save them , their ethnic, religious and cultural identity .It had got entrenched into the mindset that any move to further dilute Article 370 will be like courting disaster . It was a big political compromise based on the misconception that Article 370 is the only way to keep the people happy in Kashmir and to stop them from drifting toward Pakistan or seeking c0mplete independence .
Somehow, this particular Article had come to define as part of the Kashmiri Muslim identity .This had attained two dimensions that a particular geography and demography could stay in India only if the Article 370 stayed in the constitution . This also gave a handle to the international community to view Kashmir as a “ dispute” , which was defined by the Article 370 itself which came in between the integration of J&K and the rest of the country .
Modi broke all the illusions and gave a meaning to the Instrument of accession of October 26, 1947 , that it had been waiting for decades . The accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the rest of the country was complete , but Article 370 put conditions that no nation could accept Shattering illusions is not an easy task , especially when these get embedded as a fascinating reality in the minds of the people . Modi did it , and through his actions made it clear that violent reactions can be tamed , and peace can be brought from the jaws of terrorism. He has also demonstrated that terrorism was a temporary phenomenon which some quarters were using as a blackmailing tactics .
