Kashmir was never a federal state like others. It was and continuous to be a military occupation (with increased troops now, one gunman to 10 civilians). Now it has lost even the facade of being an independent state. And we are told Kashmiris are real people. If they are real people like mainland Indians, why does military occupy civilian spaces there? When are we scrapping AFSPA? You have numbers now. You can do anything. Democracy, those who have read would know isn't about numbers but doing what is right even if in the eyes of majority it is wrong. It is about morality.
Yesterday we went back on a constitutional promise. A promise made by none other than Sardar Patel. The meeting on Article 370 was held at his residence. Minister without portfolio Diwan Bahadur Sir Narasimha Ayyangar Gopalaswami Ayyangar sent his notes from this meeting to Sardar Patel saying Nehru will issue the letter to Sheikh Abdullah of Kashmir only after his approval. And Patel did send his approval. Yes, the same Sardar on whose statue we spent 3000 crores on.
What's stopping the authoritarian state from removing AFSPA if they consider Kashmir as just another state and Kashmiris like any mainland citizens? The majoritarian state has already made people in Assam prove their citizenship by piece of paper as old as 48 years (You have to prove that your ancestors entered India before March 24, 1971 and even that's not enough; it is just one of the many conditions). They've already excluded Christians and Muslims from citizenship bill. They have passed law that makes possible declaring individual as terrorists. They have passed bill that gives extra powers to NIA undermining federalism. All these without proper discussion and without sending these bills to standing committees. These committees exist to ensure all possible scenarios are thought through, that laws are made on data and facts and not mere conviction. We saw what happened with demonetisation. In democracy state isn't supposed to act in secrecy. Remember, citizens chose their government. We are the masters not subjects.Make no mistake, like in Emergency, everything yesterday and before was done legally. State leaders were arrested, communication lines were cut. And our tv channels repeated Amit Shah's lines that Kashmiris were happy. With internet shut down, cable pulled off, there was just no way Kashmiris even knew what had just occurred. But we were told they were happy and we believed because it went with our biases. Hurray! Nobody is interested to know what Kashmiris want. We never asked them or cared to know how it feels to live under perennial military occupation. How many of us fear going to a police station or even when a policeman is near us? Imagine living under the constant shadow of gunmen. A state was declared union territory without consent of the state. A state was bifurcated without its consent. And we are celebrating this? It looks like we have come to a point where we will celebrate anything that comes from this govt and TV screens (which again are copy of what this govt says). We have left our brains in freezers, we no more read, we no more think, we only parrot what state and its mouthpieces say. We find reasons to defend rapists now, reasons to defend people who take out rallies for rapists, we tell ourselves rape is impossible to have happened inside a temple because well, we want to believe it and a news anchor is telling us so, despite all the evidence proving otherwise. We've closed our minds. Stopped thinking. Conscience, forget it, is long dead anyway.
