The Gupkar alliance is as hollow politically as it is morally

The first major step towards bringing Jammu and Kashmir into the mainstream since the scrapping of Article 370 in August 2019 came in October this year when the Union Home Ministry announced new land laws for J&K, making common people and investors from outside the region eligible to purchase land in the new union territory.

Under the new law, being a permanent resident of J&K is no longer a criterion for making property-related investments in the UT. In other words, the exclusive rights of permanent residents over land in J&K are now over. 

The new law makes it legal to transfer a piece of land in the region to an individual, business, or institution to establish healthcare and education facilities. However, a bar is placed on agricultural land that can be put into non-agricultural use. Moreover, the upper echelons of the Indian Army can pronounce a zone as a “strategic area” for operational and training requirements of the defence forces. 

After the new law was announced, Kashmir’s political class with separatist leanings - the NC, the PDP and others - expectedly accused the Modi government of trying to disempower and disenfranchise the people of J&K. NC Vice President Omar Abdullah launched a scathing attack on the Centre, claiming that the new amendments had put J&K up for “sale”. 

Nevertheless, the Modi government has upped the ante in Kashmir amid the growing desperation of the separatist Kashmiri politicians to maintain their relevance. The government’s intention is crystal clear. Now that the region has been freed from the shackles of an unwanted and dubious special status, it is time to marginalise the secessionist and anti-India forces in J&K. 

Post their release from preventive detention, the Abdullahs and Mehbooba Mufti have left no stone unturned to sell the unrealistic idea of the restoration of Article 370 to their followers. For the once fire-spewing political figures who have been reduced to shadows of their former selves, the situation has become so grim that in order to avoid disappearing into political obscurity they are now resorting to an absurd promise of engineering the annulment of a constitutionally passed law. Well, good luck with that!

To throw some comic relief into the mix, many representatives and sympathisers of the NC and the PDP celebrated the victory of the Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the recently concluded US presidential election. They revelled in the pipe-dream that the President-elect after taking office will internationalise the Kashmir issue unlike his predecessor Donald Trump and diplomatically arm-twist the Indian government into reversing its position on Article 370, as the Democrats are expected to meddle in India’s internal affairs more as compared to the Republicans.  

In retrospect, the Modi government had given an opportunity to the political fraternity in Kashmir after August 2019 to shun their duplicity and redeem themselves by pledging undisputed allegiance to the Indian constitution under which they have fought elections for decades. But that did not happen. The same old story of India-bashing and nurturing the separatist agenda was repeated, more overtly so, after Omar Abdullah’s release from detention earlier in March. The NC leader made it abundantly clear through his tweets and statements to the media that his party along with other like-minded political players would never accept Kashmir’s joining of the Indian mainstream. 

After coming out of detention, Farooq Abdullah outraged the people of India when he challenged the nation’s sovereignty by appealing to India’s antagonistic western neighbour China for help to bring back Article 370. Seeking foreign support to break Kashmir away from India, Abdullah displayed the audacity to argue that Beijing had not approved of India’s decision to abrogate the discriminatory article. 

But, be that as it may, the Government of India has decided to deal head-on with the renewed wave of separatism in Kashmir. 

Earlier this month, Home Minister Amit Shah lashed out at the protagonists of the Gupkar declaration - a joint statement that expressed resentment and promised protest against a decision by the Government of India to repeal Article 370. The statement was issued a day before the Modi government announced the revocation of the ludicrous law and bifurcated the erstwhile state of J&K into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh on August 4, 2019. In a tweet, Shah unequivocally condemned the actions of what he termed as the “Gupkar Gang” - a coalition of regional and national parties, including the Congress, demanding the restoration of Article 370. He warned the gang to fall in line with the national mood and accept the reality that Kashmir is an integral part of India or gear up to face their political demise. 

 

On the other hand, cracks within the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) aka the Gupkar gang have already become visible. In the run-up to the District Development Council (DDC) election scheduled for November 28, the separatist parties have been overly critical and unaccommodating of one another over the issue of seat-sharing. The chaos is just as conspicuous in the Jammu division as it is in the valley.  

From the nationalist perspective, the DDC election has come at just the right time to further expose the Gupkar gang by making their discord and fragility evident to the public. Some members of the PAGD have gone on record stating that before deciding to participate in the election, the alliance felt apprehensive about their decision being interpreted as an acceptance of the Modi government’s move to rescind J&K’s special status. 

Clearly, the porous Gupkar alliance has soaked itself in the muddy waters of its own ego. This self-serving group that not very long ago considered fighting the DDC polls under the flag of the erstwhile state of J&K has ended up bickering over a few election seats, so much so that this infighting led to the resignation of the PDP patron Muzaffar Hussain Beig from the party. Although as per media reports a consensus over seat-sharing in Kashmir for the few phases of the eight-phase DDC election was reached within the alliance earlier this month, Jammu remained a bone of contention. 

The seat-sharing crisis is only indicative of the greater reality that this unholy alliance is based on the ideology of secession and betrayal is as hollow politically as it is morally. Despite repeated promises by the PAGD actors to their followers that all is well within the alliance, it is apparent that such assurances are far from the truth. 

Not only between the regional players but the seat-sharing crisis has also affected the Gupkar alliance’s relationship with the Congress party, forcing the Congress to admit that a majority of its party leaders, especially from Jammu, wanted to go solo in the DDC election. 

The PAGD has emerged as a nexus between secessionist political parties on one side and the Congress party on the other, which is a compulsive opposer of the Modi government even if its stances hurt India’s national interest and security. This sham alliance that has failed to get its act together over a DDC election can never represent the best interests of J&K. The writing is on the wall for the people of Kashmir. 

Therefore, the choice lies with the Kashmir’s citizenry to decide whether they wish to waste more years of their lives over vague promises and political misguidance at the hands of Kashmir’s separatist political players that constitute anti-India alliances such as the Gupkar gang, or join the Indian mainstream to see J&K shining on the path of development and security.  

image source : jkmedia.net 

Nationalists must ensure that India’s nationalistic movement progresses into a phase defined by knowledge, intellect and superior content

The old adage ‘Content is King’ has become ever so relevant in contemporary times. In fact, one could go a step further and suggest that the need for restoration of the ‘Supremacy of Content’ has become paramount.

We live in an era that is witnessing a constant deterioration in content quality across several domains and the content aimed at spreading the message of nationalism is no exception. Unfortunately. 

The rapidly growing chorus of nationalists on social media platforms and the gripping display of passion on television debates is worthy of appreciation but that it appears to have taken the lead over most other modes (primarily intellectual in nature and catering to the grass-roots level) of strengthening the nationalistic narrative is a big concern. The intent is right but the procedure and the execution demand tremendous improvement. 

What may sound like an unpopular opinion among certain nationalistic circles in India is a reality that must be accepted sooner rather than later. 

In the post-independent India, the idea of nationalism took a beating for decades under successive Congress regimes before Narendra Modi took charge of the country in 2014. When Modi became the Prime Minister, it did not just promise a change in people’s fortunes but also guaranteed a revival of nationalism. Nationalists have gone the extra mile ever since to fight the dangerous pseudo-left-liberal agenda that presents nationalism as a form of ideological extremism. 

The movement dedicated to ensuring that India’s nationalistic pride stays ahead of the false propaganda has been taken up at multiple levels - from TV studios to social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. It fills the hearts of all nationalists with great satisfaction and elation when they find their sentiments echoed by their compatriots and representatives. Nothing can be more encouraging than to see thousands of people joining the struggle and calling out those who challenge the idea of a unified India, the bedrock of which is formed by a philosophy of undiluted nationalism. 

However, passion alone is incapable of taking this movement further. It is a proper blend of narrative and strategy that will - therefore, it is the ‘content’. 

Hence, the time has come for like-minded nationalists to unite and revisit the times when there was no social media and broadcasting was not as pronounced as it is today. History proves that the richer the content and stronger the manner in which it is circulated, the better the result. The greater the effort, the greater the glory. 

The key is to strike a balance between the traditional style of generating awareness and creating mass mobilisation through the dissemination of credible and intellectual information via public gatherings, community-building etc; and making the best use of digital and broadcasting space. Sadly, a greater emphasis is being given to the latter while there is very little focus on the former. This certainly cannot be the way forward. In the current scenario, the simultaneous implementation of both conventional and modern formulas is crucial. One is not a substitute for the other. 

Rather than merely addressing the issues at hand, much attention ought to be given to making people aware of the genesis of the problems. Television and social media do not provide adequate intellectual space for that. Due to the nature of these platforms, they counterproductively condition people to prefer sensational and dynamic content over the content that delves into the nub of the matter. 

In order to educate a generation about the history and circumstances that led to a particular present situation, imparting information historically, conceptually and analytically through community-building is imperative and one of the most effective ways of doing it - the conventional way! It will add scholarly solidity to the movement and work wonders in defeating the fake narrative of left-liberalism that aims to weaken the foundations of this nation. 

In this regard, one could cite the pertinent example of persecution of Kashmiri Pandits in the name of Islamist extremism. The Modi era has exposed the duplicity and hypocrisy of the anti-India Kashmiri political class in the valley like never before. Today India is cognisant of the reality that KPs are victims of Islamic terror and Hinduphobia, which has reduced them to the status of refugees in their own country. The overall awareness about the atrocities inflicted on KPs is much higher than it was a decade ago. But India needs to dig deeper and know more, much more. 

Sadly right now, the discussion has gotten confined to what transpired in the 90s and thereafter. This is the time to look through the transparent walls of history and understand how the centuries-old Hindu ethos of Kashmir was systematically attacked with the nefarious ambition to convert Kashmir into a radical Islamic territory. The Hindu legacy of the valley is massive, spanning across centuries until invaders and extremists decided to obliterate it. The deepest dark secrets of how it all transpired must be shared with the youth. 

Every movement must graduate from one stage to another which is the only way for it to sustain and produce the desired result. Similarly, the nationalistic movement must progress into the next phase so that it can overcome the pseudo-liberal India-bashing propaganda with colossal force. Through the employment of conventional means of mass mobilisation, nationalism in its truest essence can percolate deep into the ideological framework of all nation-lovers.

Nationalists must prioritise building communities and creating local leaderships to embolden the movement and to render the power of knowledge to those dedicated to the nationalistic cause. Because knowledge is real power. 

The process must start with every neighbourhood, every family and so on. It is like a warrior going back to the basics to get ready for the big battle. And this battle is to be fought on the basis of knowledge, intellect and superior content with a mission to fortify those for whom nationalism is their identity and to bring the misguided back on track. 

Over and above the showcasing of fervour and commitment on TV and social media, it is incumbent on all nationalists, therefore, to empower themselves with knowledge and critical information, drawing the focus back on what was mentioned right at the beginning of this piece - ‘Content is King’.  

image source : legalbites.in