Compensating loss of Kashmiri identity with promise of
faster development
Sikhs in Punjab felt cheated when Akali Dal president Sant Harchand
Singh Longowal entered into unconditional accord with Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi in July 1985 within three months of his release from jail. This was more than a year after Operation Bluestar,
the code name for army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar
beginning June 4, 1984 after imposing 72-hour curfew in the region.
The terms of engagement had changed by then and this was not
realised while signing this accord.
The Accord promised compensation to innocent persons killed in
Punjab “in agitation or any action” after August 1, 1982. This also included compensation
for property damaged will also be paid. The second point of settlement was
merit being the sole criterion of recruitment to the armed forces rather than
the state quota. These promises were besides transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab
and referring the issue of river waters allocation to a tribunal.
Sant Longowal was gunned down on August 20 within less than
two months of signing the Accord that finally was consigned to the dustbin of
history as the only issue on which action was initiated was construction of
Satluj Yamuna Canal to carry water from Punjab rivers to Haryana. Senior Akali
Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal did not attend Sant Longowal’s death anniversary
for nine years.
Reference to Punjab in the context of what is happening in
Kashmir is called for as both are neighbouring states, both share border with Pakistan
and both these states (now only one state) were dominated by minority- Muslims
and the Sikhs. Both share militancy. Moreover, centre is concerned about the
mercurial situation in Punjab too in
view of the radical Sikh politics, especially among the Diaspora.
Kashmiris, who have lost their identity, have been promised loads
of development. Jammu and Kashmir stands obliterated as a state from the map of
India having been reduced to the status of a union territory. Lots of promises
were made on the development front by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself last
night in his Address to the nation.
The Kashmiris should have been happy today and should have
celebrated. They have not. They have been promised more employment too.
Interesting, unemployment is going up in the country.
The narrative that is being constructed around the thesis of
development is very important. Reducing a state to the level of a union
territory in the name of faster development is now the new development model. Earlier,
big states were bifurcated, even trifurcated, for higher development. That narrative
stands reversed.
Moreover, now any state can be reduced to union territory
through what can be termed as constitutional dictatorship.
Development is the primary responsibility of those who are
elected by the people to ‘serve’ them. In practice, they govern than with
colonial mentality that India inherited in 1947. Development is not a favour to
be showered on the people. The promises made to the people in Jammu and Kashmir
and Ladakh have to be seen in this context.
There is another irony in the case of Jammu and Kashmir on
the development front. The state has been under President’s rule and hence
under the centre directly for months. For all practical purpose, a state under
President’s rule is a union territory. Punjab has the record of having been
under President’s rule continuously from May 1987 to March 1992. Where were the
hurdles in fastening the pace of development in Jammu and Kashmir all these
months?
Moreover, the BJP governed the state in alliance with PDP
before that government was unceremoniously sacked. What stopped the BJP from accelerating
development process then?
People in the Valley are in a shock and the state stands
divided on this issue although loss of identity concerns every Kashmiri.
With a single stroke, a major section of the pro-India people in the
political spectrum of Jammu and Kashmir has been rendered irrelevant.
Continuation of Article 370 was never an issue with the militants and that
narrative remains unchanged.
Moreover, it is the Jammu region that might attract
investment rather than the Valley. Punjabis are always in search of cheaper
land in other states.
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