Politics of Accommodation

On 5 August 2019, the Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi de-operationalised Article 370 and 35A and also re-organised Jammu and Kashmir state into two union territories, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh. Article 370 was the product of peculiar circumstances created by the partition of the Indian subcontinent that led to the birth of India and Pakistan as two separate countries on 15 August 1947. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) did not join India or Pakistan at the time of independence. The political dynamics in the state at the time constrained the choices of Maharaja Hari Singh in deciding the future of his state in accordance with the Indian Independence Act 1947. The state was coveted by both India and Pakistan not only because of its geostrategic importance but also for their competing post-colonial nationalism projects. J&K was important for India as its Muslim-majority reinforced India’s secular credentials. For Pakistan, Kashmir remains an unfinished business of partition, and it considers itself incomplete until Kashmir does becomes its part. This claim is based on religious nationalism as J&K is a Muslim majority state ( Varshney, 2010 ).