[Two flagship programmes of the Modi 2.0 - meant to accelerate "India's" journey towards a "Hindu Rashtra" and, thereby, make it cease to be "India", NRC and Kashmir are showing signs of faltering.
Here're (reproduced below) the nervous responses of two eminent Modi drum-beaters, definitely not counted as run-of-the-mill Bhakts, over developments as regards Kashmir. They've, of course, done their utmost to brush under the carpet the egregious way the constitutional status of Kashmir was, overnight, radically undermined, adopting a cloak-and-dagger method. That's, however, par for the course. These comments clearly indicate that the ploy of "internal matter" is just not working as far as the outer world is concerned and it may, eventually, come to play a more salient role in determining the shape of things to come than ever before, since 1949 ceasefire between warring India and Pakistan, mediated by the U.N.] I/II. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kashmir-article-370-lockdown-narendra-modi-bjp-6100082/ Out of my mind: Govt’s dozen own goals on Kashmir The episode involving the European Parliamentarians shows that the government does not believe in its own propaganda that all is well. Written by Meghnad Desai | Published: November 3, 2019 3:30:12 am The decision to abrogate Article 370 on August 5-6 was a stunning success. All is fair in love and war. Governments are entitled to do whatever is within constitutional limits according to the political belief of their ruling party and normal rules of conduct. Others may not like it, but then they did not win the confidence of the people. What is unforgivable is incompetence. The saga of Article 370 began at the top as a brilliant manoeuvre. The decision to abrogate Article 370 on August 5-6 was a stunning success. Somehow the government seemed to have found a window of opportunity when, with the J&K government out of office and hence the responsibility for any change in Article 370 falling on the Central government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah found a sequence of adjustments to various articles in the Constitution to make the most profound change in Article 370. Modi and Shah had cut the Gordian knot. The de facto situation of J&K not being truly autonomous was now legally secured. As used to happen in the past, mobile telephones were shut down, public meetings banned, curfews imposed. Now, however, we were promised that these bans would not last. The promise was that business of the government would improve and healthy and prosperous Kashmiris would be empowered. New governments would be established. This was however not a priority. The eyes of the government were firmly fixed on Pakistan and the United Nations. The avoidance of any official censure by the UN Security Council was adroitly managed by the government. Ninety days have passed since then. There is even now no normalcy. What is obvious is that whatever scheme the top echelon of the government had in mind has not been delivered by the lower rungs, from the Governor down. The episode involving the European Parliamentarians shows that the government does not believe in its own propaganda that all is well. Whoever dreamt up this clumsy and transparently flawed programme should be sacked. It is not just one but a dozen own goals. It has exposed a serious gap in international diplomacy. It has been obvious for some time that there is a serious dearth of talent in political personnel below the top two. The PMO also has not been up to the challenges that the PM sets for it, as was obvious in the demonetisation case. The Article 370 saga has been allowed to harm India’s reputation thanks to a lack of foresight. An urgent policy intervention is needed. Chanakya’s sequence of Saam, Daam, Dand and Bhed seems to have been reversed. Dand has been used at the outset. But bhed has failed as the MEP (Members of European Parliament) fiasco shows. Daam has been promised but not delivered. What remains is saam. There is a need to display confidence in the rightness of the policy if indeed it is believed and, I am sure it is, that the policy was correct and in the interest of J&K. Relax the curfew completely, release all prisoners, face the crowds of protesters and show the world that they remain a minority. Allow anyone and everyone to visit Kashmir as indeed now, after the abrogation of Article 370, they have the right. Let the world come openly rather than report furtively. Somehow people believe furtively obtained news more than its truth value. It hurts India. II. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/jammu-kashmir-article-370-lockdown-terrorism-pakistan-6100062/ Fifth column: Losing the Kashmir narrative to Modi government’s childish kind of triumphalism India has compelling reasons for the abrogation of Article 370. But, so far, they have been put before the world so badly that it is Pakistan that has taken control of the narrative. Written by Tavleen Singh | Updated: November 3, 2019 8:12:20 am India has compelling reasons for the abrogation of Article 370. But, so far, they have been put before the world so badly that it is Pakistan that has taken control of the narrative. (Express photo) Two video clips I saw on social media last week came as proof for me personally that Article 370 would have had to go sooner rather than later. The first showed Pakistani children playing at becoming suicide bombers. With the sound of verses from the Koran in the background, small children lined up to embrace an older child before he crossed the dusty field in which they played and disappeared in a fake explosion. The second showed ISIS widows and wives in a camp in Iraq the day after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed. They screamed that a new leader would be born soon to deal with infidels. They wore black burqas and black gloves and spoke from behind veils that totally concealed their faces. They said it was the will of Allah that the jihad continue till all infidels be killed. Their dress code reminded me that they have sisters like Asiya Andrabi in Kashmir. India as a victim for decades of jihadist terrorism has every reason to be worried about this kind of Islam spreading through Kashmir. And, it has been spreading slowly but surely for many, many years. It has changed the nature of Kashmiri Islam and it has changed the objective of the armed insurgency from ‘azaadi’ to establishing an Islamic state in Kashmir governed by the Shariat. This transformation of the ‘freedom movement’ did not begin after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, it began long ago. Last week, on the day that the former state of Jammu & Kashmir lost not just its special status but its status as a state, senior Congress party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad declared publicly that there was no ‘Kashmir problem’ till 2014. He lied. Our Kashmir problem began in 1947 and was so badly handled by Congress prime ministers that even as the historical problem faded, a new one was born out of bad policies and terrible mistakes. Most of them made in Delhi. Not in Srinagar. Having said this, it also needs to be said that the Kashmir tour that those random European legislators were treated to last week was a ludicrous public relations farce. Since the abrogation of Article 370, all attempts to win India’s case internationally have been absurdly farcical. Right from that first attempt by our National Security Advisor to show ‘normalcy’ in Srinagar by hosting a supposedly impromptu buffet lunch for a handful of locals in an ominously deserted street. India has compelling reasons for the abrogation of Article 370. But, so far, they have been put before the world so badly that it is Pakistan that has taken control of the narrative. Every time a new story appears in some important western newspaper about torture and repression in the Kashmir Valley, spokesmen of the Indian Government dismiss it as prejudice and Pakistani propaganda. Perhaps. But, when are we going to start telling our side of the story better? When are we going to explain to the world that India can simply not afford to have an Islamic caliphate take birth within her borders? This was beginning to happen in Kashmir right under the noses of Kashmir’s ‘mainstream’ political leaders and they were unable to stop it. Sadly, ‘liberal’ journalists and human rights activists on our side of the border were reluctant to admit that we were dealing with something more serious than a ‘freedom movement’. What is even more worrying is that instead of a responsible, mature effort to counter Pakistan’s false narrative on Kashmir, what we have seen from the Modi government is a childish kind of triumphalism. Where is the need to make the abrogation of Article 370 an issue of ‘national honour’? Where is the need for senior ministers in Modi’s cabinet to keep boasting about his “56-inch chest”? They do him no good when they talk like this because now that Jammu & Kashmir have come under direct rule from Delhi, every time there is a new act of jihadist violence, it will be blamed on Modi personally. The Chief Minister of West Bengal has already blamed him for the murder of five Bengali workers who have become the most recent victims of jihadist terrorists in Kashmir. Why they are still operating freely is a question for the Home Minister to answer. Last week, the Prime Minister said while paying tribute at the Statue of Unity that he has ordered built, that by abrogating Article 370 he has fulfilled Sardar Patel’s dream of uniting India. “Peace and development will now prevail in Jammu and Kashmir,” Modi said while standing beside one gigantic foot of the Statue of Unity. We must hope and pray that he is right. It is what everyone wants, including the people of the state that is now not a state but a Union territory. Sadly, the steps taken since August 5 have been less than convincing. The article appeared in print under the headline ‘Losing the Kashmir narrative’ -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZg93VkU49FUS8EZZWQjn1UW%3DedLtXSKJiM0HQrSeN-APQ%40mail.gmail.com.
