By R. Krishna
‘August 5’ will be seen as a red letter day in the history of Hindu-majoritarian politics in India because two major events are associated with it. The first was the abolition of the Special Status enjoyed by the Muslim-majority State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) through the repeal of Art 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019. The second was the ritual inauguration of the construction of a temple for Lord Rama in Ayodhya in place of a demolished 16th Century Moghul-era mosque on August 5, 2020.
To take Wednesday’s (5) event first, it was a major landmark in the history of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindutva movement led by it, and the political career of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bhoomipooja, done by Modi himself, marked the end of a seven-decade-long struggle by India’s radical Hindu political constituency to build a temple for Rama at the site where he was born, but which had been arrogated by the first Moghul Emperor, Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, to build a mosque in 1529. The Hindus’ bid to reclaim it during British-rule got entangled in litigation with the Muslims, even though the mosque was not used by the latter.
It was the Hindu political right wing resurgence in the 1980s which brought the Ram Janmabhoomi temple building movement to the Indian political forefront. The resurgence led to the demolition of the ‘Babrimosque’ by Hindutva radicals on December 6, 1992. But the legal issue continued to stymie temple construction till November 2019, when the Indian Supreme Court ruled the site should go to the Hindus and that the Muslims should be allotted a plot elsewhere to build a mosque.
With the court ruling under its belt, and undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Modi-backed Ram Janmabhoomi movement ceremonially inaugurated the construction of the temple on August 5. The ‘secular’ Congress and other Left parties, had no option but to support it in view of the growing popularity of Hindutva. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi publicly said that Rama belonged to all Indians and hoped that the BJP would not communalize the construction.
For his part, Modi took care to describe the project as a “nationalistic” one, rather like the Indian independence movement against the British and avoided mentioning Muslims or Muslim rule.”Ram belongs to all and is in everyone” he said, pointing out that the Ramayana is enacted even in Muslim Indonesia.
“Lord Ram is in our hearts, whatever work we have to do, he is our inspiration. Attempts were made to finish his existence but Lord Ram is the basis of Indian ethos. He could never be destroyed or diminished,” Modi declared.
Changes in Kashmir on August 5, 2019
If the construction of the Ram temple was a barely concealed Hindutva project, so was the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution relating to the Muslim-majority State of J&K on August 5, 2019. The abolition of the Special Status given to J&K under Articles 370 and 35A was also clothed in an Indian nationalistic garb. Article 370 had given the Muslim-majority states a special autonomy, and Article 35A had given special privileges to local Kashmiris in education and employment.
Following the repeal of Article 370, the State of Jammu and Kashmir was divided into J&K and Ladakh, and both were designated as federally administered ‘Union Territories’ with less autonomy than States. It was stated this was done to protect the region and the rest of India from terrorism and Muslim separatism sponsored by neighbouring Islamic Pakistan.
Aware of the criticism that the repeal had triggered, the Modi government delineated the fruits of the abolition of Article 370 for the Kashmiris in the past year. The government asserted that 170 e-MOUs worth US$ 1.9 billion were finalized. In less than five months, till the end of January 2020, more than 15,000 metric tonnes of apples valued at around US$ 10 million were directly purchased from farmers in the Kashmir valley. It said central government ministers had inaugurated 20,000 projects and 7,000 of these people-identified development projects were completed.
On the educational front, it said 50 new institutions with 25,000 vacancies had been established and new health infrastructure worth over US$ 1 billion and seven new medical colleges, five new nursing colleges and a state cancer institute had been planned.
However, human rights organizations give a contrary picture. The bi-annual report on the rights situation in J$K by the J&K unit of the ‘Coalition of Civil Society’ said that from January 1 to June 30, 2020, there were extrajudicial executions of at least 32 civilians, besides the killing of 143 militants. Fifty four armed forces personnel were also killed in fire fights.
From January 1 to June 30, at least 107 Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs) and Cordon and Destroy Operations (CADOs) were conducted. At least 57 encounters took place between Indian armed forces and the militants. The media continued to be at the receiving end of intimidation and harassment by the authorities, the report said. The first six months of 2020 witnessed the continuation of the ban on 4G mobile internet services, which were banned for the first time on August 5, 2019. According to the Indian website Scroll.in, the J&K administration is denuded of Kashmiri Muslim officers. Another report said that 25,000 ‘outsiders’ were given Kashmir residence certificates.
Writing in The Telegraph India, retired Special Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), AnandArni, said: “There is bewilderment that the government’s anger with Pakistan is now focused on the ordinary Kashmiri.”
Referring to the local government elections, Arni said: “The government’s attempt to create a new tier of politicians stumbled, if the panchayat elections held in December 2019 are to be any gauge. Those elections saw no polling in a full two-thirds of the seats – a third had no candidate and another third, with just a single candidate, went uncontested. There are lessons here – that anger and fear of the militants still holds.”
On the abolition of Article 35A, Arni said that Hindu Kashmiris have also been the losers, and not only the Muslims, as Art 35A had reserved employment in government service and educational institutions for locals, irrespective of religion.
“The Dogras (a Hindu caste in Jammu) are uncomfortable with the revocation of Article 35A, which allowed the state legislature to define the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. Article 35A was revoked at the same time as Article 370 and the Dogras are concerned that its abrogation could result in ingress from the outside and lead to a loss of access to employment. Even in Ladakh there is similar concern that the withdrawal of domicile laws and its impact on job will be at the expense of the Ladakhi.”
China affected
The abolition of Article 370 and the bringing of J&K and Ladakh under direct Delhi rule have irked China, which feels as threatened as Pakistan. Both China and Pakistan share a long border with J&K, are in perpetual conflict with India, and are in occupation of the State of J&K. While Pakistan holds ‘Azad’ Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan, China holds Aksai Chin.
Arni also says that the Chinese military build-up across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley began a month after the abrogation of Article 370.This presages the grim possibility of China and Pakistan acting in unison during a military conflict with India.
-ENCL
