Article 370 revoked: Modi, Shah bust India's biggest political myth, deal death blow to conflict profiteers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s calculation was that if the influence of the power brokers in Kashmir was restricted and enough contingency measures were taken to ensure the maintenance of law and order, then Article 370, one of India’s greatest political myths can be successfully busted The Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap Article 370 and Article 35A that conferred special status to Jammu and Kashmir has likely put an end to ‘conflict entrepreneurship’ in the Valley — one of the most lucrative political ventures that for decades served the cause of a few elite political dynasties in the Valley and New Delhi. Ladakh was also taken for granted and neglected for being a Buddhist majority area.” Article 370, which was enforced in 1949 and exempts the state of Jammu and Kashmir from the Constitution of India and administration from the Indian government except in areas of finance, defence, foreign policy and communications, and Article 35A, which was introduced through a surreptitious Presidential notification bypassing the Parliament in 1954, eventually became tools of extortion for these elite political dynasties who subverted democracy, avoided proportional representation for Jammu and Kashmir’s other ethnic residents and failed to stop the exodus of Kashmiri Pandit minorities who had to flee their native land in 1990 faced with targeted killings, rape and arson from Pakistan-backed militants. If Article 370 and Article 35A are temporary, so is Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India, thundered former chief minister and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah in April. This is not to say that the issues plaguing Kashmir have been solved by one Presidential notification that bifurcated the state, turned it into a Union Territory, diluted Article 370 and scrapped Article 35A, but it is a much-needed rebooting of Kashmir policy that allows the Indian state to launch fresh efforts towards integration of Kashmir residents into India’s body politic.