- The Hiindutva agenda is going full steam ahead
On August 5, 2019, the existing Hindu nationalist government of India, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), revoked Indian-Occupied Kashmir’s autonomous status and territorial sovereignty, which were maintained in accordance with Articles 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution. The region was downgraded and split into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature; and Ladakh, which will be ruled directly by New Delhi without a legislature of its own.
In the lead-up to the move, India sent thousands of additional troops to IOK, imposed a crippling curfew, had Kashmiri leaders placed under house arrest, and severed internet connections, mobile phone lines and even land lines, casting Kashmir into an information black hole. As India has abrogated the land protection clause, a plan for extensive colonialist dispossession of Kashmiri Muslims through land purchases by Indians, looks foreseeable. Many critics said this move could also radically change the demographic composition of the disputed region itself, and some have cautioned that it may resemble Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Prior to this move, India has drafted a project in 2015 aiming to build accommodations for thousands of Hindus residing in different parts of India, in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. Indians wanted to resolve the Kashmir problem on their own terms, to bring outsiders to settle in Kashmir that will turn Kashmiris into minorities in their own homes. The prevailing mentality in the BJP’s current government about the demographic transformation in the Kashmir Valley is evident from the statements of their diplomats or politicians. Ram Madhav, the national secretary general of the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP), said in July last year that his Hindu nationalist party had pledged to help return some 200,000-300,000 Hindu Pandits who had fled the Kashmir Valley after the armed revolt started in 1989. Similarly, in November the India consul general in New York called for the ‘Israeli model’ in Kashmir. At a private event in New York City, Sandeep Chakravorty, while addressing Kashmiri Hindus and Indian nationals advocated that India would build settlements modelled after Israel for the return of the Hindu population to Kashmir. He asserted “If the Israeli people can do it, we can also do it.”
India has had colonialist designs on Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 but after abrogation of special status last year, the process of Indian colonialism has been accelerated by the BJP’s nationalist government. India is attacking on the diverse cultural fabric of the Jammu and Kashmir region and wants to impose the Indian cultural ethos by destroying identity of Kashmiri culture
Thr Modi government, with the motives to change the demography of Indian-Occupied Kashmir further pushed its “Hindutva” agenda by issuing new domicile rules at the end of March, under which an Indian citizen who has resided in occupied Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years, or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th/12th examination, or who is registered as a migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) will be deemed to be a domicilee. This law will certainly lead to cultural loss and will shake the Kashmiri legacy and age-old ethos. By giving thousands of non-resident families resident rights and domicile status, the demographic situation of Indian-Occupied Kashmir will surely change significantly. It will have great consequences for the native population, and for their cultural ethos. Kashmiri culture is certainly rich, but not enough strong to repel the foreign inroads. Eventually Kashmiris will witness a cultural shock as the dominant foreign culture will dominate the Kashmiri culture.
Colonialism is defined as “the control of one power over a dependent area or people.” This happens when one nation suppresses another, conquering its population and exploiting it, often imposing its own language and cultural values upon its people. India has had colonialist designs on Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 but after abrogation of special status last year, the process of Indian colonialism has been accelerated by the BJP’s nationalist government. India is attacking on the diverse cultural fabric of the Jammu and Kashmir region and wants to impose the Indian cultural ethos by destroying identity of Kashmiri culture. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) national secretary, Tarun Chugh said that now Hindi will be the first and official language of the state. “The best thing is that now Urdu will no longer be the first and official language of the state. Hindi will be the first and official language of the state,” Chugh said on October 30. However, the grip of Urdu has been remaining strong in the Valley as the religious scriptures are written in Urdu and all official records land, revenue, courts, and even FIRs, are scripted in Urdu. In addition, to distort the history of Jammu and Kashmir and to bring Hindutva influences to school education, the BJP Government decided to “revise” the curriculum in schools in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the Ladakh region. In pursuance of this, the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) has decided in January this year to modify social science books from Class 6 to Class 10 in accordance with the new developments in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
The name of radio stations in Indian-Occupied Kashmir changed as the radio station of Jammu was renamed as All India Radio, Jammu and Radio stations of Srinagar and Leh were also renamed as All India Radio, Srinagar and All India Radio, Leh respectively. Furthermore, in March the City Chowk, Jammu, was renamed Bharat Mata Chowk’ and the Kachi Chawni Chowk Atal Bihari Vajpayee Chowk. In the meantime, the Chenani-Nashri tunnel that links Kashmir with Jammu was renamed in October after Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who is also regarded as the founder of the BJP. The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) also passed resolutions to rename the Jammu Airport and the Jammu University after Hindu Dogra monarchs Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharaja Gulab Singh, respectively.
