Modi has sacrificed Kashmir for his Hindutva politics

[Chakar The Great]

On 5 August 2019, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had repealed the special provisions of Article 370 of India’s Constitution, which had given a semi-autonomous status to the Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.

To celebrate the first anniversary, Modi together with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has performed today the groundbreaking ceremony at Ayodhya, starting the construction of Ram temple at the site of demolished Babri Mosque.

Undoubtedly, the unconstitutional repeal of Article 370 is a matter of celebration for the Hindu nationalists in India but it has not only brought unimaginable misery and loss of identity for Kashmiris but it has also caused irreparable damages to India’s reputation as a secular democracy.

For Modi’s politics, peace and stability in Kashmir do not bring benefits, violence and despair of Kashmiri Muslims do. That is the reason Narendra Modi is celebrating first anniversary of his repeal of Article 370 at Ayodhya by formally starting the construction of Ram temple, another key Hindutva project
- Ashok Swain
Since the repeal of Article 370, Kashmir has been under lockdown either officially or unofficially for a year. A large number of political leaders and activists are in jail or under house arrest. Brute force is being used to suppress any expression of dissent.


Press has been muzzled and the judicial system has been completely compromised. Phone and internet services are still limited and restricted. Modi had promised economic development of the region but the year-long volatile security situation and lack of communication have devasted Kashmir’s struggling economy instead.

READ MORE

• Kashmir — a year after Article 370: Everyone feels the angst
• Kashmir: Anger waiting to explode
• Kashmir dispute: A timeline through the years
• The chaos of longing; Poems on Kashmir under lockdown

Growing fear in Kashmir
There is a growing fear among the Kashmiris that their land and natural resources are being taken over by outsiders. The apprehension of planned demographic changes in the Valley following Israeli strategy in the West Bank has been compounded by the new domicile rules, which grant Kashmiri domicile certificate to people from any part of India within 15 days only.

Kashmir Valley is seething with anger and helplessness. Any hope of a political deal bringing peace and stability has completely disappeared. Political and administrative networks engaging the local population developed through the decades have been completely dismantled.

J&K was demoted from a state to a Union Territory, a lesser political and administrative unitImage Credit: Gulf News

Modi government is not even attempting to create a façade of administering Kashmir with the help of Kashmiris. Delhi is ruling the Valley through its bureaucrats sent from outside. The situation has become desperate.

The growing anger of Kashmiris and the complete marginalisation of pro-India Kashmiri politicians have reignited the hope of Pakistan in succeeding in its Kashmir strategy. For decades, China used to take a public stance that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.

The Chinese angle
However, the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and turning Ladakh to a sperate political unit, and the claim of India’s Home Minister Amit Shah to recapture the Aksai Chin area has made China wary. Recent Chinese intrusion into Indian territory in Ladakh is a case in point.

The open alliance of China and Pakistan on Kashmir has drastically shifted the power balance away from India. The new political and strategic dynamics have encouraged Pakistan so much that it has even brought out a new political map including the state of Jammu and Kashmir in it.

Narendra Modi’s repeal of the semi-autonomous status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the ongoing suppression of basic human rights in the Valley have brought international criticism and condemnation. Global media and human rights groups have been relentless in their effort to expose the suffering of Kashmiris.


Failure of judiciary
The ‘guided tours’ to Kashmir organised by the Modi government of some foreign diplomats and politicians have not helped India’s cause. India’s global standing as a secular democratic country has taken a serious beating. The failure of the judiciary to protect the constitutional rights of Kashmiris have also exposed India’s institutional strength.

There is no doubt, the decision of the Modi government to abrogate Article 370 a year ago has become counterproductive to India’s interest in many ways.

It has pushed Kashmiris further away. The open alliance of China and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue has become a serious concern for India’s territorial integrity.

However, all these do not take away the fact that the abrogation of Kashmir’s limited autonomy has brought significant dividends for Modi’s Hindutva politics.

It not only fulfils a long-time demand of his party, but also in the eyes of Hindu nationalists, Kashmiris are seen primarily as Muslims, and Modi’s hardline stance improves his image further as a ‘strong’ Hindu leader.


For Modi’s politics, peace and stability in Kashmir do not bring benefits, violence and despair of Kashmiri Muslims do.

That is the reason Narendra Modi is celebrating first anniversary of his repeal of Article 370 at Ayodhya by formally starting the construction of Ram temple, another key Hindutva project.

Ashok Swain is a Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden.



https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/modi-has-sacrificed-kashmir-for-his-hindutva-politics-1.72999394

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Babri majid fiasco is Modi's Reichestag fire. It is his first moment in the limelight. He needs to distract his base, and it never failed for his 80% Hindu indian population.

 

[American Pakistani]

It's time we shun these Bharti writers. This writer is just another Bharti who think Kashmir is their internal matter. Why should we give any heed to their propaganda.

 

[waz]

The filth never cared in the first place. Why's the writer trying to see reason behind a psychopath? Would anyone here congratulate 'men' (pi$$ poor versions of them) for mass rape, murder and looting?
The quicker this ba$tard Modi bites the dust the better. Two leading cadres have already gone.

 

[Diggy]

The filth never cared in the first place. Why's the writer trying to see reason behind a psychopath? Would anyone here congratulate 'men' (pi$$ poor versions of them) for mass rape, murder and looting?
The quicker this ba$tard Modi bites the dust the better. Two leading cadres have already gone.

He is not going anywhere for another 20 years , your Imi may not see another term or your army kick him our ,but Modi will continue, as he is fulfilling our dreams.

 

[waz]

He is not going anywhere for another 20 years , your Imi may not see another term or your army kick him our ,but Modi will continue, as he is fulfilling our dreams.

C*nt looks like he's about to drop dead. Fanatical Gujus don't have long life spans. Our 'Imi' awww you sound so hurt, your own uneducated, rape supporting, chai wallah is a no body. Fulfilling "dreams" is he? Would that be 'Ram Mandir' right? No worries, he built that, and lost you masses of land on the Chinese border.

 

[letsrock]

That POS wont care but disappointing that much of the world did not as well. I dont know what it takes. I hope US-Pakistan relationship is repaired.

 

[Diggy]

C*nt looks like he's about to drop dead. Fanatical Gujus don't have long life spans. Our 'Imi' awww you sound so hurt, your own uneducated, rape supporting, chai wallah is a no body. Fulfilling "dreams" is he? Would that be 'Ram Mandir' right? No worries, he built that, and lost you masses of land on the Chinese border.

Haha Imi has gifted entire pakistan to China in the name of OBOR , go figure and if is he a nobody then why are you so eager to see him dead? and he is giving nightmares to Imi that he goes berserk on twitter , did you ever see Modi take your Imi's name.

 

[GumNaam]

surrendera modi is well on his way to sacrificing the rest of india for his hindutva politics. rest assured, we will see in our life time, an india that is landlocked and has been reduced to the size of bhutan where surrendera modi will declare himself as the "lord shri chai wala" where everyone will be required to drink the chai he makes in gow muttar.

 

[waz]

Haha Imi has gifted entire pakistan to China in the name of OBOR , go figure and if is he a nobody then why are you so eager to see him dead? and he is giving nightmares to Imi that he goes berserk on twitter , did you ever see Modi take your Imi's name.

You mean friendship? Ah, the thing Modi is short of.
Dude I want to see rats dead in London, that doesn't mean I think so highly of them, what a crazy analogy you made there.
Oh dear Modi take 'Imran's name, he takes the name of Pakistan 24/7 hahahaha. The rat is obsessed, forget Imi.

 

[Diggy]

You mean friendship? Ah, the thing Modi is short of.
Dude I want to see rats dead in London, that doesn't mean I think so highly of them, what a crazy analogy you made there.
Oh dear Modi take 'Imran's name, he takes the name of Pakistan 24/7 hahahaha. The rat is obsessed, forget Imi.

No he doesn't mention 24/7 , he mentioned only during elections in few rallies because national security is one of the election factors. How many tweets he makes on pakistan or Imi ? go see his timeline, its you people who are scared and paranoid of him, he is going about doing his job.

 

[waz]

RSS leaflets distribute karne walla in truth. chai walla is a lie to boost morale of the downtrodden half a billion or so.

they are saying: look if a teli who used to sell tea at a railway station (station that never existed during the claimed time-frame) can get a masters in [an imaginary subject) and become a rajah any one can become anything in bharat.

it is a twist on gungoo teli and raja bhoj saying: "Kahaan Raja Bhoj, kahan Gangu Teli" it is saying that 2 shall not mix

but in today's superpower bharat there is no such thing as a caste barrier, a teli now can not only marry the daughter of raja bhoj but can also become a rajah himself

You wrote too much bro. He's a sexually deviant chai wallah. Nothing else needed.

 

[waz]

No he doesn't mention 24/7 , he mentioned only during elections in few rallies because national security is one of the election factors. How many tweets he makes on pakistan or Imi ? go see his timeline, its you people who are scared and paranoid of him, he is going about doing his job.

Nah. I don't think you also read what you wrote above. The fact he actually mentions Pakistan during rallies and life changing events such as elections, shows you how much Pakistan troubles him...
No one is scared of the little pervert, don't kid yourself. He might be scary to poor Muslims in Gujarat but we folk would bury him alive, and his sangh RSS 'warriors'.
Hey man tell me, why is it these 'warriors' walk with their heads down here in other countries e.g. the UK? I know they all collectively weigh about 40lbs, and can't fight their way out of a paper bag, but seriously the way these filth seem to have undergone castration in third countries is hilarious.

 

[Pandora]

sacrifice implies that someone cares for something then lets it go. Also you cant sacrifice something which was never yours in the first place. Modi just threw Kashmir under the Bus to secure Hindu votes. A statesman would have never done such a thing to his country or people he considers his own. Manmohan singh was true statesman even Atal Bihari Vajpayee served his country without prejudice against Muslims despite belonging to BJP. The new breed in BJP with likes of Modi, Amit Shah and Yogi are simply disgusting creatures. From a Pakistani prospective we hit a Gold mine with this stupid Hindutva lot. Congress had played all its cards well and had truly isolated Pakistan but thanks to Modi India has emerged as new screw up of South Asia and we are in the clear.

 

[masterchief_mirza]

As others have pointed out, it's a flawed article because of a skewed and erroneous pretext. However, many true observations are made on Modi's political methods and objectives.

The biggest mistake Modi has made is to reveal his hand in its entirety and align all of his opponents against him in a unified stance. With his pathetic 5th August showboating obsession as some mystical launch point for his various personal pet projects, he has in one fell blow forced a unification of Indian Muslim and Pakistani interests, now aligned squarely against the Hindustan he has tried to build. Factor in China's newfound intransigence on their own Kashmir interests and he has actually created a problem for India that it now cannot back out from. An arms race is inevitable. Military build up is inevitable. His economy is already in tatters. It's a desperate gamble, one which has set us all upon a path from which there can be no return. It's a matter of time until serious military action ensues. Modi can no longer expect to be able to conduct a targeted war or strike against one of these enemies, without facing consequences from all of them, and even potentially other neighbours.

His foolishness is frankly astonishing and his ideas are delusional.