By Rameshwar Singh Jamwal
Government has started ‘ Viksit Bharat 2047, Sankalp Yatras”, with much fanfare and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is again in the news, with a different reason, as a visionary, who would leave his impact on Indian Polity and even world affairs, for coming decades, if not centuries. His vision to have India as Developed nation in 2047 is not an imaginary goal or an unachievable rhetoric. The way he has taken Indian economy to the level it is at present, as confirmed by many international rating organizations of repute, and making India the fifth largest economy has left many awestruck, enhanced the reputation of the country worldwide and helped India take the nations harming Indian interests or which took India lightly head on, which rise and positioning is unmatched. Some may consider this ‘Viksit Bharat 2047″ yatras as political gimmickry but this journey of next twenty five years will not be so smooth, as is being perceived. There will be many international and local forces, ready to put road blocks and they will try their level best to derail our path of progress with evil designs for the country, innuendoes for its leadership, conspiracies, and much more. This target will also be unachievable if all our states and UT’s do not keep pace because if one part of engine falters, the journey can slow down. Jammu and Kashmir, UT is one such part of the engine, which has given maximum trouble to the country, from various aspects, It has drained Indian resources, extracted much human price and led to four wars, all at the expense of such progress and even after the unanimous judgment by Supreme Court of India, on Parliamentary annulment of Article 370, the impractical outbursts of Kashmir centric Political parties, the attempt by OIC and Pakistan to term the event as something against Muslims, points to an ominous signal and the viewpoint held by some in Delhi or rest of country that Kashmir will return to normalcy very soon is a fallacious notion. Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister has threatened of fighting three hundred wars, leaders of some political parties in Kashmir have revealed their intentions of continuing with their tirade against the country and abolition of Article 370 for another seventy five years and the Jihadi machine or the wide penetration they have made into almost all organs of the polity of the UT of J&K will not allow the things to settle down so soon, as is being perceived by the powers that be in New Delhi. They are waiting for the regime change and right opportunity to strike and we should not be caught napping in the dreams of victory in the battle, as the war against the system and the enemies of peace is still not over. The reverberations of Judgment will continue to haunt some sections of society in Kashmir and they are unlikely to give up so soon, but as the events point out, it will have little impact on the lives of people in other parts of the country and they may get immersed in the general elections or the cricket mania but those who want to trouble us are least interested in these small games, who consider this war from a different perspective. The big question, as to how this legal victory is going to change the fate of India is still in the realm of uncertainities . May be, for a narrower viewpoint, it may yield some political dividends for BJP. But Narendra Modi does not play politics for such narrow political objectives. His idea of transforming India into a third largest economy in his next term and India as a developed country by 2047 can be marred by events which may unfold in the near future, unless tackled with statesmanship. While the rest of states in India are competing for bringing change in the fate of people by using the immense potential of growing Indian economy, we in J&K are still discussing and talking about issues which have lost relevance in modern context and will not be able to take us anywhere except destruction, being witnessed for the last several decades. This article has equal relevance for them as well and even those who have benefitted from the system, if they have not realized the follies of their mistakes, need to do introspection, about their gains and about the losses their own people and region has suffered due to their misplaced thinking and priorities.
The revealing words of an insider, former Chief Secretary Mr. B.V.R. Subramaniam, that J&K was one of the worst governed parts of India are still relevant as much time has not passed where such forces in the system may have been relegated to the pages of history. He had said that Jammu and Kashmir was a “broken state” and there was “no system” in place due to years of mis-governance, corruption and “unbelievable levels of fraud” committed by leaders of mainstream parties and separatist organizations. He had said that said frauds in Jammu and Kashmir were at “unbelievable levels”. “There were frauds in jobs, frauds in projects, frauds were everywhere” ( Jamwal, 2022, “Misgoverned Kashmir, the Indian Bane”). How to reverse this trend in a short duration of less than a year, when the elections will be held as per Supreme Court Judgment, will test the sagacity of our national leadership, which will not like to let the gains of five years go awry. The Judgment about holding elections cannot be avoided at this stage, though mandated by the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court, it will again lead to the same set of people come back to power about which B.V.R Subramaniam had referred to. The Central government, before holding the elections requires to dismantle the entire edifice of this misgoverning clique, which not only breeds terrorism but also leads to draining the resources of the country at massive levels. BJP or Congress, though not forming the clique, which has other feelings about the relations of J&K with rest of India but they were part of the misgoverning bodies, and do not have the leadership capable of providing an efficient administration and the grassroots network which can lead them to form government on their own. Their present set of leadership has not been able to display the kind of vision required to bring the UT of J&K out of morass. The yearning of the people for better standards of life, better future prospects for their kids in the UT itself, better healthcare, education, transport facilities, better economic conditions have no takers at the moment from the political class of Kashmir and some others in rest of UT of J&K but we need to convince the young generation in Kashmir that their future prospects can be secure and better, if they accept the reality, leave the unrealistic goal of destroying India or helping Pakistan succeed in its designs to annex it and march ahead with the rest of the country, as the common citizens of a great country ready to take off and have its footprints on world, like never before.
(The author is a practicing Advocate of J&K High Court and authored book, “Misgoverned Kashmir, the Indian Bane”).
