“Restoring statehood” for one while denying other!
Sukhpreet Singh Giani
Jammu and Kashmir went to polls in three phases. Voting for the crucial last phase, covering 40 Assembly segments across seven districts — Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir was held on October 1. The counting is scheduled for October 8th. The elections were important as after the scrapping of the article 370 by Narendra Modi government in 2019, the voters in Jammu & Kashmir went to polls for the first time to elect members for the state legislative.
On August 5, 2019, the Modi government removed Article 370, fulfilling BJP’s decades-long promise to remove the special status, which it said was responsible for the region’s political crisis and separatism. This also led to bifurcation of the region into two federally governed territories: Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan in the west, and Ladakh bordering China in the east. Jammu & Kashmir were given the privilege to elect their state assembly. Ladakh was reduced to a Union Territory with no assembly of its own.
As expected, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party colleagues went all out to impress the voters of the gains that they have made after the abrogation of the article 370, and promised them to restore “statehood” that was stripped five years ago. Modi’s most recent election campaign comes amid a wave of resentment in Kashmir against the central government, the BJP, for eliminating the region’s minimal autonomy and turning it into a federally administered territory in 2019.
While the leaders were busy in impressing voters with new promises and specially on the restoration of the statehood, they preferred to ignore what was happening in Ladakh which once happened to be part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A 15-member delegation from Kargil was on a journey to Chandigarh, where they united with representatives from Leh and reached New Delhi on October 1st and were arrested. Dubbed the “Caravan for Restoration of Democracy in Ladakh,” the delegation aims to persuade the Government of India to restore their democratic rights. The detention has ignited concerns over the suppression of peaceful activism.
What an irony, “restoration of statehood” in Kashmir is poll plank, while those asking the same for Ladakh are arrested! Ladakh is currently governed directly by the central government in New Delhi, and thus the participation of local representatives in decision-making processes is limited. As a state, it would have its own legislature and chief minister. Activists say this would allow for more responsive and accountable governance tailored to the needs of locals.
People from the region have been protesting since Feb 2024, spurred by a protest fast by local inventor, educationist, and environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk. In March, Sonam Wangchuk along with supporters staged a 21-day hunger strike in freezing temperatures to draw attention to the issue, without revoking any response from the central government.
In addition, Ladakhis have been highlighting the plight of the Changpa nomadic tribes who are losing thousand of square kilometres of their land “due to Chinese intrusion in the north. An issue that the Central government should have handled on its own through diplomatic channels, but doesn’t ! As it wants to maintain a stand that “not an inch of land is acceded to China.
Establishment of a Public Service Commission, and separate parliamentary representation for Kargil and Leh regions in addition of restoration of statehood for the region are the demands that the protestors have been raising. No leader from the ruling BJP is willing to comment on “Why the area of Leh and Ladakh has to suffer as they tend to score brownie points on abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.” Also, “ The restoration of state hood in Jammu & Kashmir is a poll promise, but when the Ladakhis ask the same, they are put in jail.”