No doubt, by the virtue of being the prime minister of
India, Narendra Modi is among the top global leaders. In spite of its nagging
problems back home, India is among the few countries that are going to matter
in the global order for coming decades.
Because, after China, India is the next big thing to happen
to the global economy. And it can provide the much needed succour to the global
economy without any of the compromises that any sort of tie with China invites –
the world is doing business with China ignoring its autocratic rule and human
rights suppression. India is the largest democracy in the world and is a
functional one, in fact a robustly functional one. And the whole world is
looking towards it.
That provides it the might, in fact an unparalleled
potential that even China didn’t have – becoming the world economy’s pivot with
biggies of the world – sans the baggage of negativities that a China mention
generates.
That might also require India to set its house in order
first. And the biggest policy hurdle towards it is Kashmir. Before we proceed
further, let’s be clear about certain inevitabilities. A free Kashmir is a
mirage.
Suppose India accepts Kashmir as independent country. What
would happen after it?
Would then Pakistan and China follow the suit, by freeing
Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Aksai-Chin and the part of Kashmir
that Pakistan gave to China?
Would China and Pakistan shed the much hyped China Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CEPC) that passes through parts of occupied Kashmir?
The only answer to that is a NO. So if China and Pakistan
cannot do it, it is foolish to expect that India would let Kashmir go,
especially when Kashmir constitutionally merged into India and when Kashmir has
been bleeding India for decades. It is true Kashmir didn’t see the kind of
development it needed but it doesn’t mean there was any sort of discrimination
with the state. In fact, in terms of resource allocation, Kashmir is one of the
most pampered states of India.
It was the mess created by the central governments in India,
state governments in Jammu & Kashmir and the politics of J&K that led
Kashmir to where it is standing now. And there is no other way out but a tough
stand now – no to accommodating ‘soft secessionist’ approach – and a big YES to
better manage resources to put the valley on the track of development. Politicians
and people of Kashmir will have to understand this. They have to decide about
their future and the future of their coming generations. And the time is now.
They have to decide if they want to run foolishly after that mirage or it is
now time to return back to the basics of pragmatism.
They will have to revisit India remembering their days before
terrorism crept in, a time when Kashmir was synonymous with heaven on earth.
Kashmir has, all along, been a part of India – during its good days – and its
bad days with the heap of self-inflicted pain. And it will remain a part of India.
It is true Narendra Modi government has failed so far in its
experiments with J&K. But he should be given benefit of doubt. He has tried
to intervene in Kashmir through soft measures so far, a hallmark of India’s
democracy. He tried to mend ties with Pakistan. He formed a coalition with a
Kashmiri party to form the government there. He has visited the state many
times and development projects are coming there. India is as much of Kashmiris
as it is of any person from any other Indian state, provided Kashmiris also
understand and reciprocate it. And this sentiment now is not limited only to
the power corridors of our country. Its echoes have started coming from every
part of India.
After seeing the outcome of his efforts so far, the Modi administration
has only one left to proceed in the valley – tough on them who are inimical to
India’s interest and going out of the way to assuage and heal them who have got
into the crossfire - an approach that should have been adopted much earlier, in
fact in early 90s when Pakistan sponsored militancy in Kashmir Kashmir’s started
spiralling out of control. Every subsequent union and state government is
responsible for ignoring this and thus creating the mess Kashmir now has
become.
Going by the recent developments, it seems this, indeed, is
going to be the approach of the Modi government now. Appointing an Indian Army
chief who believes in taking tough decisions on Kashmir, stiff principled opposition
to CPEC, strict no to government initiated talks with the so-called separatist
leaders of Kashmir, flow of ample funds and resources in Kashmir, continued
people outreach through the state and central government agencies including the
security forces in spite of the irresponsible behaviour by a section of Kashmiri
propagandists and Pak stooges who, somehow, have been able to influence a
section of Kashmiri population, albeit a small one, just because of the mess
created by the governments.
©SantoshChaubey
