Of Article 370 and beyond

I still havenrsquot figured out where I fit inrdquo says Jammubased journalist Anuradha Bhasin as she sits down with us for a video interview from across the Atlantic ocean ldquoAll my life I have shuttled between Jammu and Srinagar so both places were mine But with the abrogation of Article 370 I belong nowhere neither to Jammu where majority of the voices were that of celebration because of the recent Rightwing influence nor in Kashmir where I am an outsider toordquo she lamentsA journalist for over three decades and the executive editor of Kashmir Times Jammu and Kashmirrsquos oldest English daily Bhasin has just released a book A Dismantled State The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 HarperCollins and is currently a John S Knight Fellow 20222023 at Stanford University CaliforniaAnuradha Bhasin Pic CourtesyDouglas ZimmermanOn August 5 2019 the BJPled central government revoked Article 370 which was part of its election manifesto It also divided the state into two Union Territoriesmdashone of JampK combining both Muslim majority Kashmir and Hindu majority Jammu and the other of Ladakh with Buddhish majority When in place Article 370 allowed JampK the power to make its own rules pertaining to permanent residency ownership and buying of land It also disallowed people from other states from purchasing property in the state ldquoJammu and Kashmir is not a homogeneous region which might appear so from its abbreviation Kashmir Valley has a predominantly Muslim population with a distinct Kashmiri identitymdashlinguistic ethnic and political that they attach to Even within Jammu there are different regions But JampK was important for me Throughout my journalism career and even as an activist I acted as a bridge for dialogue between different communities With Article 370 revoked suddenly everything started drifting further apartrdquo Bhasin tells usThe distinct identity that the state enjoyed she says was a binding factor bringing people together and closer to the Indian mainland The snatching away of it however according to Bhasin made the distance even more unbridgeableSharing the feeling that loomed back in 2019 Bhasin recalls ldquoDays before the abrogation there were different kinds of rumours floating around The Amarnath Yatra had been halted which was unprecedented Tourists were being picked up and shifted out of the state There was utter chaos fear and panic mostly in Kashmir Everyone felt some kind of military action was inevitable as a large number of troops were being deployed all around Activists journalists and politicians including three former chief ministers of Kashmir were put behind bars in the days preceding the announcementrdquoldquoEven at nightrdquo Bhasin continues ldquothere were sorties of flights I stay close to the Jammu airport which also has the defence airport It was unsettlingrdquo The first warning sign Bhasin got about events extending outside of Kashmir valley was when her driver came in at 7 am with news of the imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC in the state This gave the power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance of apprehended danger It also restricts public gathering of four and more people The Parliament was also meeting which cemented a lot of apprehensions around she says ldquoWe were in complete shockrdquo she states While the BJP had been talking about revoking Article 370 Bhasin says people did not believe it was constitutionally possible ldquoAfter a week of celebrations majorly in Jammu when the dust settled people including the minority Hindus realised that they had been demoted to a UT from a state had lost special status which also meant losing territory and were unsure if the government would protect their land rights or notrdquoShe adds ldquoBecause there is always this distinction between people of Kashmir valley and that of Jammu so if anything bad happens to Kashmir valley people in Jammu just assume it is good for them and that was the initial sentiment with revocation of Article 370 too Later the anxieties around outsiders coming to JampK to buy property will there be protection of land rights like in Himachal Pradesh and other concerns started to sink inrdquoBhasin also clarified that it was a mere myth propagated that women will be able to retain land purchase rights in JampK even after marrying outside ldquoWomen already had that right through a court order in 2005rdquo She started writing the book as an experimental documentation of Kashmiri voices of concerns and facts around Article 370Life Bhasin says continues to be impacted because of the step ldquoArticle 370 was a hollow shell The only protection people had was related to land jobs and business which today is taken away You cannot wish to Indianise them by pushing them further away and increasing the distance between New Delhi and Kashmirrdquo she explains