On Kashmir, India Went Back on Its Constitutional Promise Showing It Can Now ‘Legally’ Do Anything Given Its Brute Majority

Yesterday, Indian Parliament headed by BJP which enjoys brute majority declared Article 370 which gave Kashmir special status in Indian union revoked, it bifurcated the Jammu and Kashmir state into two parts, and it also declared both the parts as Union Territories. The reason why they did this is one part of a debatable story; the manner in which they executed this is another.

Kashmir was never a federal state like others. It was and continuous to be a military occupation (with increased troops now, one gunman to 10 civilians). But now it has lost even the facade of being an independent state. And we are told Kashmiris are real people. If they are real people like mainland Indians, why does military occupy civilian spaces there? When are we scrapping AFSPA? You have numbers now. You can do anything. Democracy, those who have read would know isn’t about numbers but doing what is right even when what you want to achieve is wrong in the eyes of the majority. It is about morality. Many people confuse democracy with rule of the majority which it is not. Democracy values process over outcomes. Procedural propriety is what separates democracy from despotism. How you arrive at something is as important (or more important) than the end result. Unlike other systems of governing that rely on whims of an individual, people hold trust in democracy because it relies on procedures, laws and logic which makes even the poorest of poor, even the minority of one to believe that he/she will get justice here. That his/her legitimate rights will not be taken away so as to satisfy the wishes of majority.

In a democracy the military stays out of politics and out of the public eye, and war is not celebrated. The nation’s leader is not held in awe. He is held accountable. He is required to face the press and answer questions. The leader of a democracy who does not uphold and nurture this democratic tradition, shows himself to be above it, as has been evident here.
- courtesy Indian Express

Yesterday we went back on a constitutional promise. A promise made by none other than Sardar Patel. The meeting on Article 370 was held at his residence. Minister without portfolio Diwan Bahadur Sir Narasimha Ayyangar Gopalaswami Ayyangar sent his notes from this meeting to Sardar Patel saying Nehru will issue the letter to Sheikh Abdullah of Kashmir only after his approval. And Patel did send his approval. Yes, the same Sardar on whose statue we spent 3000 crores on.

What’s stopping the authoritarian state from removing AFSPA if they consider Kashmir as just another state and Kashmiris like any mainland citizens? The majoritarian state has already made people in Assam prove their citizenship by a piece of paper as old as 48 years (You have to prove that your ancestors entered India before March 24, 1971 and even that’s not enough; it is just one of the many conditions). They’ve already excluded Christians and Muslims from citizenship bill. They have passed law that makes possible declaring individual as terrorists. They have passed bill that gives extra powers to NIA undermining federalism. All these without proper discussion and without sending these bills to standing committees. These committees exist to ensure all possible scenarios are thought through, that laws are made on data and facts and not mere conviction. We saw what happened with demonetisation. We have journalists celebrating “maximum bills passed in a parliament session”, “most productive session of Parliament”. They don’t understand how productivity in parliamentary democracy isn’t decided on the basis of number of bills passed but the rigor and quality of discussions and debates held. Parliament is to ensure that the laws that are being passed, bills that become law and affect all citizens pass all necessary checks and balances. We have 500 plus members to ensure everyone can read the bill, find deficiencies in them, bring amendments so we the people end up with better laws. We have Rajyasabha, the upper house with representatives from all states so that interests of the states are taken care of. But you now have a government that passes bills in cover of money bill bypassing upper house thereby making mockery of federalism. I don’t even want to begin on what’s wrong with passing laws as ordinances bypassing everything that is sacred in parliamentary democracy.

A day before yesterday as opposition leaders in Kashmir were being arrested, more and more troops were being sent in, no one in Kashmir or in India at large knew what was happening. Even Jammu & Kashmir governor had no idea of the development. He was repeating about some terror strike from Pakistan which we all now know was a complete lie, a manufactured news which many news channels repeated and gave legitimacy to troop movements. In democracy state isn’t supposed to act in secrecy. Remember, citizens chose their government. We are the masters not subjects. A legitimately democratic state acts by taking its citizens into confidence. An authoritarian state on the other-hand acts on the whims and fancies of its leader and then churns out theories to legitimize its decision. End satisfies the means then becomes a phrase often beaten but the “end” we saw in case of demonetisation how it shifted every new day and at last those who followed the news know it never arrived and worse, ended up doing exactly opposite of what it promised. But who dared to call it out, who dared to pronounce it to the leader that he failed, miserably at that.

Make no mistake, like in Emergency, everything yesterday and before was done legally. State leaders were arrested, communication lines were cut. And our TV channels repeated Amit Shah’s lines that Kashmiris were happy. With internet shut down, cable pulled off, there was just no way Kashmiris even knew what had just occurred. But we were told they were happy and we believed because it went with our biases. Hurray! Nobody is interested to know what Kashmiris want. We never asked them or cared to know how it feels to live under perennial military occupation. How many of us fear going to a police station or just when a policeman walks by us? Imagine living under the constant shadow of gunmen like them, being constantly watched, being stamped on your palm now and then as a reminder that your homes and bodies don’t really belong to you, that you live on the mercy of big brother.

A state yesterday was declared union territory without consent of the state, it’s people and leaders.

Just imagine tomorrow a state like Karnataka being declared Union territoty, I mean, what’s stopping this govt from doing such a thing? And news channels will then find reasons why Amit Shah and Modi did such a thing and how it is a good step — a masterstroke!

A state was bifurcated without its consent. And we are celebrating this? It looks like we have come to a point where we will celebrate anything that comes from this govt and TV screens (which again are copy of what this govt says/wants). We have left our brains in freezers, we no more read, we no more think, we only parrot what state and its mouthpieces say. We find reasons to defend rapists now, reasons to defend people who take out rallies for rapists, we tell ourselves rape is impossible to have happened inside a temple because well, we want to believe it and a news anchor is telling us so, despite all the evidence proving otherwise. We’ve closed our minds. Stopped thinking. Conscience, forget it, is long dead anyway.

Note: India prohibits anyone from displaying any other map of India apart from the official version. The map in image above is of fictional place and not the ‘real’ one displayed in official version. Reader discretion advised.