Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the abrogation of Article 370 brings a new era in Jammu & Kashmir. In his address to the nation on Thursday, he said Article 370 did great harm to the people of J&K, making it a fertile ground for corruption, nepotism and separatism. He said his government’s move will curb terrorism, and bring private and public sector jobs.
ThePrint asks: Should Kashmiris give PM Modi a chance to bring peace and development?
Scrapping of Article 370 will get Kashmiris the benefits that were not available to them until now
Nalin Kohli
National Spokesperson BJP
Article 370 was a purely temporary arrangement in the Indian Constitution. For the past seven decades, its existence deprived Jammu and Kashmir of peace and development at all levels. It is noteworthy that when Home Minister Amit Shah was speaking in Parliament for the removal of Article 370, not one opposition member could muster even a single argument to support why Article 370 should continue and what positive could be achieved.
The removal of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi government is for the benefit of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. As Modi said in his address to the nation, the government’s focus is to open up greater opportunities for economic development and employment for the people in the region. Like other Indian citizens, the people of Jammu and Kashmir also deserve their rightful share of prosperity and economic opportunities.
Let us not forget that the Instrument of Accession signed on 26 October 1947 unequivocally makes Jammu and Kashmir a part of India. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir of 1956 in its preamble also records it as being an integral part of the Union of India. Article 370 was only a temporary arrangement that has nothing to do with the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
Article 370 hasn’t resolved any of the major problems of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, it has only contributed to creating a mindset of separatism and even terrorism over the past 70 years.
So, isn’t it time that people give a fair chance to experience how the situation can improve after the removal of Article 370?
People of J&K won’t be convinced by Modi’s claim that Article 370 was abrogated for their benefit
Hasnain Masoodi
Politician, National Conference
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seemingly not informed well about the ground reality. To say that Article 370 stood in the way of development is not convincing. He cited underdevelopment as a reason to abrogate Article 370, but that is not true. The state is well off; the per capita income, and the healthcare and education parameters are much better. People don’t die of starvation and farmers don’t commit suicide here like in other states.
We have nine universities from where thousands of students graduate every year. Doctors who graduate from here go on to become physicians to the head of the state.
PM Modi also spoke about disempowerment in Jammu and Ladakh regions. Again, that is not true. Ladakh is right now governed by the Autonomous Hill Council. They have elected a local chief. The state and the Centre send funds to Ladakh. Jammu, on the other hand, has four universities, including an AIIMS and an IIT. To say that we were not part of the national development will not convince anyone.
In his speech, Modi also spoke about law and order in the state. However, all central laws are applicable here, and those that are not, have the same version of it in the state’s law. For example, we have the Ranbir Penal Code in place of the Indian Penal Code.
I would like to reiterate that Modi did not have complete information regarding the state, and so the people of Kashmir will not be convinced by his speech that removing Article 370 was intended for their benefit.
Also read: With Kashmir move, Modi has ensured map-making comes to an end in subcontinent
Kashmiris need more than just gestures from Modi govt to build faith in repeal of Article 370
Rahul Verma
Fellow at Centre for Policy Research
I sympathise with the argument that recent abrogation of Article 370 was a bit brazen, and downgrading the status of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory undermines constitutional principles and India’s federal structure, but there were very few options left at the table given the emerging international situation.
The removal of Article 370 has always been part of the BJP’s manifesto. And in the past few months, especially after Pulwama, the Modi government seemed to have been preparing for a situation like this. The geopolitical context with the United States working to pull out its troops from Afghanistan will change things drastically, and with Kashmir being a nuclear flashpoint, the Indian government needed a new card.
From my interactions with the people in the BJP and the government, I have gathered that the general mood is that we have shown political will at the highest level and now other stakeholders in the region must contribute positively to the changed scenario. They realise that this move too may fail, but they have a firm belief that the status-quo in Kashmir was neither helping Kashmiris nor was it in India’s national interest. The government’s decision in Kashmir carries multiple messages and this was very evident from the subtext of PM’s speech Thursday.
That said, Kashmiris need more than gestures from the Modi government to build faith in the decision to revoke Article 370. There is a possibility that people in the Valley believe that the ruling party only cares about ‘the land being an integral part of India’ or from the ‘geo-strategic’ context, but not so much about the people. Unless this doubt is removed from the minds of Kashmiris, the suspicion towards the government’s decision will remain.
Modi shuts out an entire population and then expects them to give him a ‘chance’ for anything
Shivam Vij
Contributing editor, ThePrint
It is unlikely that Kashmiris will take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words seriously, and it is easy to see why. PM Modi keeps an entire population under lockdown and a communication blackout and expects them to give him a ‘chance’ for anything.
The farcical government narrative of “normalcy” in Kashmir is soon going to give way to the reality of Kashmiri angst. The Indian media will be urged to ignore it and pretend everything is fine.
Kashmiris have been betrayed again and again by New Delhi, but the Modi government’s actions have been a super betrayal. The Modi government has done nothing but lied to Kashmiris. It decried the PDP in elections and then did an alliance with it. It agreed to various conditions to the alliance. It agreed to hold talks to resolve the Kashmir conflict and so on. It then discredited its alliance partner and withdrew support, making a major pro-India party redundant in the Valley.
While ‘re-organising’ the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Modi government said it was honouring the longstanding demand of the people of Ladakh division to be made a Union Territory, but the same government cares a damn about what the people of Kashmir want. They have no reason to trust a government that incarcerates even pro-India politicians in a rebellious Valley.
Also read: What Modi didn’t say but meant – govt’s take-over would end Islamisation of Kashmir
By Revathi Krishnan and Taran Deol
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Everyone should give peace and development a chance. The fragrant soil of Kashmir has received the mortal remains of too many young people. Read Shah Faesal’s pinned tweet to get a sense of what this has done to the psyche of the Kashmiri people. Personally I am not a great believer in written documents. They can be noble parchments, which we revere like our scriptures, or scraps of paper, tossed carelessly into a bin. How many of us signed pre nup agreements, even knew what the phrase meant when we got married. 2. An excessive focus on Article 370, one way or another, was not justified. It was not a devil that impeded the progress of an entire state for seventy years. Nor did it place a Kashmiris on a pedestal far above the rest of all of us. There was a historical context to its enactment and retention. If India’s apex legislative chamber has rescinded it, that is something everyone will have to learn to live with. However, without rose tinted glasses. It does not unshackle creative energies and resources that will transform the state. 3. 5th August is an enormous initiative taken by the Union Government. Its success will be reflected in improvements in governance, an end to the violence of the last thirty years, a reduced, less intrusive security presence. A little later, by noticeable improvements in the economy. The Kashmiri Pandits returning with dignity to their ancestral homes. Indians from other parts of the country should come only as high spending tourists or humble migrant workers. No change in the demographics of the state, no real estate developers, although they are on life support in any case.