Bharat Jodo Yatra: A wayward yatra and Kashmir
The Indian Express | 1 week ago | 20-01-2023 | 02:40 pm
The Indian Express
1 week ago | 20-01-2023 | 02:40 pm
The ill-conceived “Bharat Jodo Yatra” led by Rahul Gandhi cannot redeem the Congress party’s missed opportunity in Kashmir. Beginning from the dawn of independence, for over six decades to follow, the Congress leadership had an opportunity which it squandered through a series of self-righteous retrogressive experiments, starting from what history records as the infamous “Nehruvian” blunder.Now that the course correction has been effectively accomplished by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by abrogating Article 370, exercising zero tolerance against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, and mainstreaming Jammu and Kashmir not only physically but even in the hearts and minds, the Congress has once again sought to rekindle the inglorious past in a vain bid to revive Rahul Gandhi’s extinct political career.As Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat jodo” passes through Jammu and Kashmir, it is essential to set the record straight by recalling the serial blunders by successive Congress-led governments in J&K since 1947. The cumulative effect of these acts of omission and commission was that it created a ground for separatism, terrorism, nepotism and corruption, while severely curtailing economic development.If only Nehru had allowed his home minister, Sardar Patel, to handle J&K in the same manner as Patel was handling the other princely states of India, the history of the Indian subcontinent would have been different and Pak-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) would have been with India today.The nightmare of the Congress’s misguided approach began with the introduction of Article 370, which sowed the early seeds of separatism soon after independence, at a time when all the other princely states of India were seeking closer integration. The subsequent 1954 order issued by the Centre provided numerous exceptions to the Indian Constitution as applicable to J&K and this virtually “institutionalised” separatism.If Article 370 institutionalised separatism, then Article 35A institutionalised “discrimination” against certain sections of society including the daughters of J&K. For 70 long years after independence, till Prime Minister Modi arrived, the Balmikis and the Pakistani refugees were denied their basic rights of citizenship and voting. Deliberate denial of certain rights including the right to reservation for Scheduled Tribes was another opportunistic tactic of the Congress leadership motivated by vote bank consideration.Unlike in the rest of the country, Congress governments did not allow Lok Sabha elections in J&K till 1967 and later refused to set up local bodies. District Development Councils were set up only after the government headed by PM Modi took over and so also the 73rd & 74th Amendments of Panchayati Raj Act were introduced.Lack of jurisdiction for central laws, like Prevention of Corruption Act, led to corruption and misgovernance in J&K. Non-implementation of provisions like Dowry Act, Child Marriage Act, POCSO, etc. led to social oppression. All this could get corrected only after Modi took over as the prime minister.I had once said in Parliament that history will one day answer the question as to whether on Kashmir, Nehru or Mookerjee was right. Today, history has delivered its judgement. Nehru missed the opportunity to bring about full integration of J&K with the rest of India. Successive Congress governments used every subsequent opportunity to promote their opportunistic dynastic politics.The Bharat Jodo Yatra can hardly redeem the Congress’s missed opportunity in Kashmir because the directionless Yatra is in itself yet another addition to the party’s long list of misdoings in Kashmir.The writer is Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
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