By Sushil Kutty
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Jammu & Kashmir and proclaimed that if the Narendra Modi government did not restore Jammu & Kashmir’s statehood, the “next government” will do it. For those of us who had been missing the stone-pelting and the daily skirmishes between security forces and ‘militants’, this was exciting news. Rahul Gandhi didn’t speak of Article 370’s return, but 370 stood like a sentinel behind the statehood talk. Kashmiris will once again rule, and not some “Bahar ka Raja”, the title Rahul gave to the J&K Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha.
Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has an uncanny yen to read minds. He knew straightaway that Kashmiris were fed up of central rule and Sinha should go and never return, not even as a tourist. In Rahul’s J&K playbook, “outsiders” led by the Lt. Guv were looting Kashmir bankrupt and this wouldn’t be allowed once Modi goes.
It didn’t matter that “outsider” fit everybody including Rahul Gandhi. “Outsiders” were reminded of the Pakistanis who have always branded all shades of Indians in the Valley as “outsiders”. Even the Indian Army in the Valley is “outsider” for Pakistan. The now extinct separatists also referred to “Indians” as outsiders.
It has been so long since anybody spoke the word “Separatist”, for almost a decade nearly. Those days of Geelani, Shabir Shah, who just got bail but will remain in jail, and tens of others who got their upkeep from India but called Indians “outsiders.” With the Congress and the National Conference at the helm will “separatists” make a return?
Ask the Valley people and the majority of them including Farooq and Omar Abdullah, along with Mehbooba Mufti and Engineer Rashid, will agree with Rahul Gandhi and the rest of the INDI-Alliance that statehood must be restored along with autonomy though Rahul did not once mention Article 370.
Modi and Shah may say anything, the reality is Kashmiris cannot live without statehood and the warm embrace of Article 370. Rahul Gandhi did not, but alliance partner Farooq Abdullah has promised to reinstate Article 370 once the NC-Congress government hits the deck running.
The redaction to Union Territory status and the bifurcation of J&K were insulting and even if Jammu doesn’t have a say, the Ladakhis wouldn’t mind joining forces with the Kashmiris. Also, there’s Pakistan. The National Conference has promised to resume trade with India’s neighbour and Rahul Gandhi wouldn’t object to Aman ki Asha, which is a collaborative initiative, an ally-to-ally thing.
Pakistan needs her friends as Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid will vouch for. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the worst enemy of “Aman Ki Asha” and this after he had had his fill of Nawaz Sharif’s veg-biryani. PM Modi with his stubborn streak set back Indo-Pak ties by 78 years in his one decade of vengeful no talks with Pakistan policy.
Once Modi is history, Pakistan will be India’s dear friend all over again. All it requires is statehood for J&K, now guaranteed by LoP Rahul Gandhi. Imagine when Rahul Gandhi is Prime Minister, what all will happen/change? Many things will be back to Square One and the state of Jammu & Kashmir will rock again.
Kashmiri Pandits haven’t yet made it back to their abandoned and/or occupied homes, but there were targeted killings of “outsiders” under Modi’s watch? The KP have been outsiders for longer than can be remember and most KP cannot remember “How green was my Valley” anymore.
But Rahul Gandhi spoke with the confidence of a sitting Prime Minister. Unlike Narendra Modi, who, for all the big talk and spending Diwali in the company of soldiers every year, never once spoke of the plight of the hapless and hopeless Kashmiri Pandit! Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s misses in the decade he was in command will remain etched.
Modi got two opportunities and he botched up both. For the people, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and LoP Rahul Gandhi are surprises, one pleasant and the other unpleasant! Who pleasant and who unpleasant will be left to the hoi polloi to guess.
But a new dawn awaits Kashmiri. This because, chances are high for the NC-Congress alliance to win the J&K elections. The Modi government wouldn’t have called elections if the Supreme Court hadn’t set the September 30 deadline. And the BJP respects the apex court.
The top court has also asked for restoration of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir ASAP. The NDA government led by Modi will not be able to dicker. The SC wouldn’t be delayed or denied. Rahul’s promise of statehood to J&K has to become reality.
And though it is the Supreme Court which is forcing the Modi government’s hand, Rahul Gandhi has hijacked the moment and he is the one calling the shots on the fate of Jammu & Kashmir. Describing the LG as a “21st-century Raja” and “Bahar Ka Raja” was, in Amit Malviya language, a “masterstroke”.
Rahul Gandhi spoke of the responsibility of every Indian citizen to restore J&K’s statehood, but then he went ahead and spoiled the mood by speaking the language of Pakistan and referring to Indians not born in Jammu & Kashmir as “outsiders” (IPA Service)
Electoral Battle In J&K Is Being Fought Chiefly On The Issue Of Statehood 