The underlined theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his debut podcast with entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath on Friday was that for him old and embracement of new ideas translate into one thing only: “Nation First”. This is his mantra of doing things not only as Prime Minister of the country but as citizen of this country. This made Jammu and Kashmir as part national mainstream in real sense as J&K is entrenched in the idea of Nation First with a single frame of India before it.
The profoundness of this idea became palpable in Jammu and Kashmir when, as Prime Minister, he took upon himself to inculcate the values of being “Bhartiya” in the territory where this concept and conviction was under challenge during the peak of terrorism. The whole purpose behind the terrorism in Kashmir was to deny the space for idea of India through violent means. That’s why Modi took upon himself to do the course-correction in Kashmir through hard and soft power.
Ever since Modi’s tenure began in May 2014, he started his work on making Jammu and Kashmir to believe in the Nation First, and he took a number of measures in the following years. In the chronological order, it comes down to five points
One – appeal to sense of peace in Kashmir.
His original idea was to debate on the merits and demerits of Article 370. It was an open invitation to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that they should understand the whole dynamic of the Article 370 that had created differences and distances between the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country. This denoted that he would take the people of the state into confidence and go by the conclusion of the debate, the idea he floated at “Lalkar Rally” in MAM Stadium Jammu in December 2013. The overarching idea was to draw Kashmir toward peace as that alone could ensure secure future for the people, especially the youth.
Second, political experiment of aligning with the political forces in Kashmir
After the 2014 Assembly elections, which threw a deeply fractured mandate, J&K was confronted with a huge crisis. Political instability was on the cards as neither of the major parties was in a position to form the Government on their own. The PDP had emerged the single largest party with 28 seats, BJP was close second with 25 seats, NC had 15 and Congress reduced to 12. The mandate was also fractured on the regional lines. Jammu Hindus had voted en masse for BJP, while the Valley was divided between PDP, NC and few small parties. Narendra Modi gave a green signal to the alliance between BJP and PDP in the overall national interest. The whole thing centered in making PDP to realize the futility of its self-rule and soft separatism and court the idea of Kashmir at the core of the Indian nationhood.
Third, development with a special focus on connectivity
The Prime Minister, after having ensured that the disruptive elements were denied the space to influence the political decision-making, paced up the development projects in which connectivity projects were given a frontline position. Besides, announcing Rs. 80,000 crore-package for Jammu and Kashmir, he highlighted and worked for ensuring access to all in the state through road and railways. One after another, connectivity project saw its completion. The Chenani- Nashari, Banihal-Qazigund tunnels and Jammu to Banihal rail link have been completed. On Monday, PM will be inaugurating 6.4 km-long Z-Morh tunnel. These connectivity projects are a living testament to the Nation First idea’s translation on the ground.
Fourth: Abrogation of Article 370
It was in the first few weeks of his second term in 2019, when on August 5, 2019 the Modi government removed Article 370 from the Indian constitution, thus demolishing all the walls that stood between the erstwhile state and the rest of the country. The removal of this Article was not deemed as an end in itself. The Modi government started a movement of balancing the scales of social justice. West Pakistan Refugees got their citizenship rights; women married outside J&K were given their rights as are available to the women across the country. Pahadis were given ST status , thus getting them due place in the system .
Fifth – emergence of grassroots democracy
J&K got the three-tier democracy of Panchayati Raj for the first time in its history. Something unimaginable happened, as the people in J&K were lost in wilderness of a particular narrative where all democratic exercises stopped at electing the MLAs. The definition of the democratic institutions changed and the people benefitted the most. Last year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly elections added more stars to the democracy in Jammu and Kashmir as large numbers of electorate voted in an atmosphere of peace and order that the territory had not seen before.