7.1 Why This Chapter Matters — Region and the Nation

In the very first chapter of this book you studied the process of nation-building in the first decade after Independence. Yet nation-building is not something that can be accomplished once and for all. New challenges came up; some old problems had never been fully resolved. As democracy unfolded, people from different regions began to express their aspirations for autonomy. Sometimes these aspirations were expressed outside the framework of the Indian Union, and involved long struggles and aggressive armed assertions.

This new challenge came to the fore in the 1980s, as the Janata experiment came to an end and there was some political stability at the Centre. The decade is remembered for major conflicts and accords in Assam, Punjab, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir. In studying these cases, this chapter asks four questions:

• Which factors contribute to tensions arising out of regional aspirations^??
• How has the Indian state responded to these tensions and challenges?
• What kind of difficulties are faced in balancing democratic rights and national unity?
• What are the lessons for achieving unity with diversity in a democracy?

7.2 The Indian Approach to Diversity

One basic principle of the Indian approach to diversity emerges repeatedly when we study the Constitution and the process of nation-building: the Indian nation shall not deny the rights of different regions and linguistic groups to retain their own culture. The nation chose to live a united social life without losing the distinctiveness of the numerous cultures that constituted it. Indian nationalism sought to balance the principles of unity and diversity. The nation, in this sense, was not the negation of the region. This made the Indian approach very different from the one adopted in many European countries, where cultural diversity was seen as a threat to the nation.

India also adopted a democratic approach to diversity. Democracy allows the political expressions of regional aspirations and does not look upon them as anti-national. It allows parties and groups to address the people on the basis of their regional identity and specific regional problems. As a result, in the course of democratic politics, regional aspirations get strengthened — and at the same time, regional issues receive attention and accommodation in policy-making.

Such an arrangement, however, sometimes leads to tensions. The concern for national unity may overshadow regional needs; at other times, a concern for region alone may blind us to the larger needs of the nation. Political conflicts over the power of regions, their rights and their separate existence are therefore common to nations that respect diversity while trying to forge unity.

7.3 Areas of Tension — Why the Border States?

Soon after Independence, India had to cope with Partition, displacement, integration of Princely States^?, and the reorganisation of states. Many observers had predicted that India as one unified country could not last long. Soon after Independence, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir arose — not only as a conflict between India and Pakistan, but as a question of the political aspirations of the people of the Kashmir valley. In the north-east, parts of the region had no consensus about being part of India: first Nagaland, then Mizoram witnessed strong movements demanding separation. In the south, some groups from the Dravid movement briefly toyed with the idea of a separate country.

These early concerns were followed by mass agitations for the formation of linguistic states — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat were among the regions affected. In Tamil Nadu there were protests against making Hindi the official national language, while northern states pressed for Hindi to be made the official language immediately. From the late 1950s, Punjabi-speakers agitated for a separate state. The demand was finally accepted, and Punjab and Haryana were created in 1966. Later still, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created. The challenge of diversity was met by redrawing the internal boundaries of the country.

Yet redrawing did not resolve every problem. In Kashmir and Nagaland, the challenge was so complex that it could not be resolved in the first phase of nation-building. New challenges rose later in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram. We now study these cases in some detail — for the successes and failures of these episodes are instructive not only for our past, but for India's future.

7.4 Jammu and Kashmir — A Land of Three Regions

Jammu and Kashmir had a special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. In spite of this special status, the state experienced violence, cross-border terrorism and political instability with both internal and external ramifications. There was loss of many lives — civilians, security personnel and militants alike — and a large-scale displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley.

The state, before its 2019 reorganisation, comprised three social and political regions:

This three-fold division means J&K is a plural society with religious, cultural, linguistic, ethnic and tribal diversity — and divergent political and developmental aspirations. The story of J&K is partly a story of how the Indian state attempted to respond to these multiple aspirations.

7.5 Roots of the Problem — 1947 and the Princely State

Before 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a Princely State. Its ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, did not want to merge with either India or Pakistan; he wished an independent status for his state. Pakistani leaders argued that Kashmir 'belonged' to Pakistan because the majority population of the state was Muslim. But this is not how the people of the state themselves saw it — they thought of themselves as Kashmiris above all. This sense of regional identity is known as Kashmiriyat^?. The popular movement in the state, led by Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference, wanted to get rid of the Maharaja but was equally opposed to joining Pakistan. The National Conference was a secular organisation with a long association with the Congress, and Sheikh Abdullah was a personal friend of Nehru.

7.5.1 Tribal Invasion, Accession and Article 370

In October 1947, Pakistan sent tribal infiltrators from its side to capture Kashmir. This forced the Maharaja to ask for Indian military help. India extended military support and drove back the infiltrators from the Kashmir valley — but only after the Maharaja had signed an Instrument of Accession with the Government of India. Pakistan, however, continued to control a sizeable part of the state, and the issue was taken to the United Nations, which on 21 April 1948 recommended a three-step process: first, Pakistan would withdraw its nationals; second, India would progressively reduce its forces to maintain law and order; third, a plebiscite would be conducted in a free and impartial manner. No progress was achieved under this resolution.

In the meanwhile, in March 1948 Sheikh Abdullah took over as the Prime Minister of the State of J&K, while India agreed to grant J&K provisional autonomy under Article 370^?. The head of government in the state was then called Prime Minister.

7.6 External and Internal Disputes

Since 1947, the politics of Jammu and Kashmir has remained controversial and conflict-ridden, for both external and internal reasons. Externally, Pakistan has always claimed that the Kashmir valley should be part of Pakistan. Pakistan sponsored the tribal invasion of 1947, as a result of which one part of the state came under Pakistani control. India calls this Indian territory under illegal occupation Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). Ever since 1947, Kashmir has remained a major issue of conflict between India and Pakistan — including the wars of 1965 and 1971.

Internally, there is a dispute about the status of Kashmir within the Indian Union. Article 370 had provoked two opposite reactions:

7.7 Politics Since 1948 — Land Reform, Dismissal and the Long Drift

After taking over as Prime Minister of the state, Sheikh Abdullah initiated major land reforms and other policies which benefitted ordinary people. But there was a growing difference between him and the central government about his position on Kashmir's status. He was dismissed in 1953 and kept in detention for several years. The leadership that succeeded him did not enjoy comparable popular support and was able to rule largely due to support from the Centre. There were serious allegations of malpractices and rigging in various elections.

For most of the period between 1953 and 1974, the Congress party exercised heavy influence on state politics. A truncated National Conference (minus Sheikh Abdullah) remained in power with Congress support and later merged with the Congress, giving the Congress direct control. A change in the Constitution of J&K in 1965 redesignated the Prime Minister of the state as Chief Minister; Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq of the Indian National Congress became the first Chief Minister.

7.7.1 The Indira–Sheikh Accord, 1974

In 1974, Indira Gandhi reached an agreement with Sheikh Abdullah, and he became the Chief Minister of the state. He revived the National Conference, which won a majority in the assembly elections of 1977. Sheikh Abdullah died in 1982, and leadership of the National Conference passed to his son Farooq Abdullah, who became Chief Minister. He was soon dismissed by the Governor, and a breakaway faction of the National Conference came to power for a brief period.

The dismissal generated resentment in the Kashmir valley. The confidence Kashmiris had developed in democratic processes after the Indira–Sheikh Accord received a setback. The feeling that the Centre was intervening in the state's politics was strengthened when the National Conference in 1986 agreed to an electoral alliance with the Congress, the ruling party at the Centre.

7.8 Insurgency and After — From 1987 to 1996

It was in this environment that the 1987 Assembly election took place. The official results showed a massive victory of the National Conference–Congress alliance, and Farooq Abdullah returned as Chief Minister. But it was widely believed that the results did not reflect popular choice — the entire election process was perceived as rigged. Resentment that had been brewing against an inefficient administration since the early 1980s was now augmented by the feeling that democratic processes were being undermined at the behest of the Centre. The political crisis in Kashmir became severe with the rise of insurgency^?.

By 1989, the state had come into the grip of a militant movement mobilised around the cause of a separate Kashmiri nation. Insurgents got moral, material and military support from Pakistan. For a number of years the state was under President's rule and effectively under the control of armed forces. From 1990 onwards, J&K experienced extraordinary violence at the hands of insurgents and through army action. Assembly elections were held only in 1996, when the National Conference led by Farooq Abdullah came to power with a demand for regional autonomy. Elections were held again in 2002, when the National Conference failed to win a majority and was replaced by a coalition government of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress.

7.9 2002 and Beyond — The PDP, the BJP and August 2019

As per the 2002 coalition agreement, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed headed the government for the first three years, succeeded by Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, who could not complete his term as President's rule was imposed in July 2008. The next election was held in November–December 2008, after which a coalition (NC and INC) led by Omar Abdullah came to power in 2009. Disturbances continued, often led by the Hurriyat Conference.

In 2014, the state went into another election that recorded the highest voter turnout in 25 years. A coalition government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed of the PDP, with the BJP as partner, came to power. After Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's death, his daughter Mahbooba Mufti became the first woman Chief Minister of the state in April 2016. Major acts of terrorism and mounting external and internal tensions marked her tenure. President's rule was imposed in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew its support.

On 5 August 2019, Article 370 was abrogated^? by the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The state was constituted into two Union Territories: Jammu & Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without a legislature). J&K and Ladakh remain living examples of plural society in India — with religious, cultural, linguistic, ethnic and tribal diversities, and divergent political and developmental aspirations that the latest Act sought to address.

7.10 Memorise These Dates & Names — Part 1