Modi's call for debate on Article 370 stinks of majority politics

Narendra Modi- BJP’s prime ministerial candidate- on his Jammu visit has raked up the Article 370 controversy again. He has asserted that , “as per the Constitution, the debate will go on whether Article 370 will end or continue. At least, there should be a debate on whether Article 370 has benefited J&K or not”. Analysts and political commentators have inferred from Modi’s remarks that the BJP is toning down its strident rhetoric on Article 370 in the quest for allies in the state. Consider Modi’s remarks first. It is not clear where he is coming from. The state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Indian federation under certain conditions. Article 370 is the bedrock of the state’s accession to India. It is non-negotiable. Rooting for holding a debate on the said article is as loaded as the assertion that there should be a debate on whether Article 370 has benefited the state of Jammu and Kashmir or not. [caption id=“attachment_1264437” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi at his Jammu rally[/caption] Article 370 , among other things, protects the cultural sphere and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. And culture is neither a value neutral nor apolitical concept. Culture- even though an abstract concept- is reified in the quotidian lives of people and people do not merely view it in instrumental terms. Culture, and values accruing from culture, impart meaning and transcendence to peoples’ lives. At times, howsoever irrational it may seem , people will pay the ultimate price on battles over culture. Such is its appeal and draw. Kashmiris are no exception to this. They value and hold their culture in high esteem and this is an end in itself for them. The question of instrumental issues and themes like ‘development’ and ‘progress’ (if there is a consensus on the definition of either) becomes swamped by this idealization and valorization of culture. The question or issue of a cost benefit calculus in this domain becomes moot and a non issue. Article 370 then becomes sacrosanct and untouchable. This is, insofar, as the foundational premise of Article 370 goes. There then is the legal aspect and dimension of the article in contention. Article 370 and Article I of the Constitution, which stipulates the territorial jurisdiction of India, are indelibly linked. Article I applies to the state of Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370. If Article 370 is tampered with(which legally is not possible), then it opens up a Pandora’s box of issues and problems pertaining to sovereignty and other related themes. Moreover, Article 370 cannot be fiddled or tinkered with by a ‘debate’ at the Centre. If at all, a review is to take place, It can only be done by the Constituent Assembly of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. So what is Modi doing by raking up the contentious issue? The answer is obvious: he is rehashing and dishing out the the old canard of BJP in a somewhat different idiom for reaping electoral dividends. This is as short sighted and myopic as the politics of majoritarianism that the BJP is wedded to. The reasons are prosaic as well as profound. Article 370, essentially, is the nature of a compact and a pledge between the peoples of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country. Politicking over it for electoral gain, crude and vulgar populism over it, drawing facile and wrong inferences from it or twisting its import and rationale means doing a disservice to the pledge and promise made to the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. All modern nations are defined by diversity and heterogeneity. What holds diverse and heterogeneous nations together are the social and political contracts that different people enter into under the larger rubric and narrative of a broader nationhood. This is the ineffable reality of modern day nations. Imposing a cultural straitjacket on peoples and not allowing diversity and difference efflorescence is a mug’s game , detrimental and counterintuitive. Modern, confident nations do not fear heterogeneity and do not see a panacea in homogeneity. Let India continue to be wedded to the values of tolerance, diversity and difference and not succumb to narrow majoritarian and crude populism and let it stick to and redeem the pledge it has made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Maintaining the sanctity of Article 370 should be central to this pledge; not the converse.