The election to Maharashtra and Haryana State Assemblies is scheduled for October 21. Starting his election campaign in Maharashtra on October 10, Amit Shah has made the abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi Government, the main poll plank. He asked the people of the state to vote for his party as an endorsement of the action.
Now Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh have pitched the electoral battle on the Kashmir issue. The scrapping of Article 370 has become the central focus of Modi’s campaign, playing with the sentiment of the majority community, bordering on authoritative nationalism. A false narrative is set again and a perception is sought to be created that ‘strong government’ of Modi alone could address the threat to perceived national security, emanating from Pakistan. Addressing his first election rally in Jalgaon on October 13, Modi has challenged the opposition: “If you have the courage, bring back Article 370, 35A, which the Modi government scrapped.” The real issues facing the common people are put on the back burner, as was the case during the Lok Sabha elections.
The economic slowdown in India has hit an all-time low. According to the World Bank report, India’s economic growth decelerated for the second consecutive year. In 2018-19, it stood at 6.8%, down from 7.2% in 2017-18, with the current account deficit rising to 2.1% in 2018–as against 1.8% the previous year. India’s small neighboring countries are doing better. Bangladesh with 8.1% and Nepal with 6.5% are set to outgrow India’s measly 6% GDP growth. The Economic Survey of Maharashtra has projected a negative agriculture growth at 8.3% in 2017-18 on account of decreased production of food-grains, pulses and cotton crop, droughts, inadequate pricing policies and poor water management hitting agriculture badly, and now on the eve of the state election, the vegetable prices skyrocketing. In 2012, Maharashtra had accounted for a quarter of all India's farmers’ suicides. And between 2009 and 2016, a total of 25,613 farmers have committed suicide in the state.
The auto sector, which contributes more than 7% of India's GDP, is facing one of its worst downturns, with some auto industries’ production declining more than 30%. Over 3.5 lakh jobs have been lost since April this year. The decline in the growth has affected the components industry as well, resulting in the retrenchment of about 10 lakh contract workers. And according to the CMIE, India has lost some 11 million jobs in 2018, hitting most the vulnerable groups in rural areas–women, uneducated, daily wage earners, agricultural laborers and small traders.
In Maharashtra, the Cooperative banking sector is caught in a web of scams, the latest being the PMC Bank scam in Mumbai. Lakhs of innocent customers are duped by the PMC Bank. Their hard-earned money and life savings are being wiped out. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has disowned any responsibility. The Bank has created more than 21,000 fake accounts, with more than 70% of its assets worth about Rs 8800 crore being siphoned off by a single company, HDIL.
It is bizarre that the Modi government instead of addressing these real issues and problems of its people, continues to bank of the non-issue of national security and nationalism for political dividends. It is strange the people at large continued to be misled by a false narrative, while the ground reality is totally different. The government is diverting people’s attention from the pressing issues, to cover up its failures.
In Kashmir, there is organized resistance from the people against the government’s unilateral and undemocratic action of abrogating the special status of the state, demoting and splitting it into two union territories. The state is under lockdown for more than 70 days now, with communication blockade and schools and colleges and streets deserted. The entire economy of the state has collapsed, rendering thousands of people jobless. A mass civil disobedience movement is building up. The government propaganda that the state is returning to ‘normalcy’ betrays the reality.
As Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija says, “The only thing the abrogation has achieved is to destroy any semblance of normalcy the Valley had. The entire narrative vis-à-vis J&K has been orchestrated.” Though the government insists its action in J&K is an internal matter, the issue of Kashmir has got internationalised like never before, with the UN discussing it, and China insisting the Kashmir issue should be resolved bilaterally between India and Pakistan as per the UN resolutions, the Simla Accord 1992 and the Lahore Declaration 1999. The Centre is misguided to believe that the continued suppression of people’s rights, their free movement and the clampdown, would eventually make the people tired and dispirited, forcing them to give up any attempt to resist.
The clampdown in J&K has affected children more than any other segment of the population. The children will grow up traumatized by conflict and live in perpetual fear. They have become pawns in a political game where the government wants to punish those protesting against its authority. Hundreds of youngsters have disappeared since the crackdown on August 5.
That the rest of India is rejoicing the suffering of the innocent people of Kashmir is a different story.
The writer is a Professor of Political Science, and retired Principal, who published his magnum opus The Trial by Fire: Memoirs of a College Principal.
-By G Ramachandram
