The BJP manifesto on Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP turns further right, signals India’s hard power: Having won a bhaari bahumat [big majority], the BJP government now assumes sovereign authority to reshape India to its will. The fundamentals are now in question, including ideas of citizenship and federalism. Old rules no longer apply. Art. 370 was a longtime BJP manifesto promise, deemed too drastic to ever be formally implemented. Now, the Modi government has moved to make it real, ending Kashmir’s special status in the Indian Union. The Jana Sangh held Art. 370 and 35A to be unwarranted special favours to J&K, and wanted “one country, one emblem, one Constitution”. In their view, any separateness creates separatism.
The Times of India
Challenge to multi-party polity in India: Real or imaginary? Developments since May 30 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath of office for the second term after a massive victory of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections have triggered a debate whether country was moving towards one-party polity away from the present multi-party system of democracy.
The Modi Government is going ahead with gusto and speed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir without taking anyone into confidence not even its own allies. It all began with sending of additional troops and contingents of para-military forces to the state. While non-BJP political opposition is in dark about happenings in the sensitive state, even ruling party’s allies in the NDA have no clue.
Observer Research Foundation (ORF)
India isolates Kashmir by shutting down communications as big change announced: One senior journalist accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of humiliating residents of the divided Himalayan region while others warned that heavy-handedness risked triggering fresh unrest. The government said the clampdown on telecommunications and media services, which began late on Sunday night and was still in effect almost 24 hours later, was needed to curb any potential violence. Kashmiris, however, complained that the attempt by Modi’s government to control the flow of information had made it difficult for them to find out what was happening in the state, let alone air their views.
Reuters
Kashmir and 370: Constitutional coup whose aftereffects will linger a long time: It is possible to suppress popular opinion for a while, but whether it will bring long-term peace to the state is a matter of speculation.
ORF
India’s Sudden Kashmir Move Could Backfire Badly: New Delhi’s crackdown could send the region spinning into instability.
Foreign Policy
Constitutional coup ends Kashmir’s historic rights: In their haste and determination to curb opposition however, Modi and Shah have unilaterally downgraded and fettered democratic institutions. They have done so by evading constitutional requirements and by putting the people and their leaders under crushing security restrictions. That looks like a recipe for riots, violence and unrest, which Modi and Shah will seek to crush. The criticism about yesterday’s events is therefore not so much about what the two politicians have done, but the way they have gone about it.
Riding The Elephant/ Round Table website
Modi govt had told US about plans to scrap Article 370 twice — last week and in February: The Modi government did not want to take a chance when it came to the US, and so all necessary safeguards were taken to apprise the Trump administration of the move, sources added. Sources further said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Monday briefed envoys of the P-5 nations: The US, the UK, China, France and Russia. It has also briefed envoys of all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The Print
US Says India Had Not Informed It Of Move To End Special Status To J&K: India did not inform the US about its intention to scrap special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the country’s state department said on Wednesday, disputing media reports that New Delhi had kept Washington in the loop. “Contrary to press reporting, the Indian government did not consult or inform the US Government before moving to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status,” the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the US State Department posted on Twitter.
NDTV
THE BJP’s reckless and dangerous move to revoke the special status of India-held Kashmir as enshrined in the Indian constitution has raised the threat of turmoil in the subcontinent to significant levels. In effect, the hard-line Hindu zealots who surround Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have convinced him to dismiss international opinion — which firmly considers Kashmir a disputed territory — and forge ahead on this destructive path by subsuming the occupied region into the Indian union. While this nefarious aim has long been on the BJP’s agenda, it is after the last Indian general election that Mr Modi and company gathered the confidence — some would say foolhardiness — to press ahead with it. Drunk on power and ambition, the Indian establishment has decided to risk playing with fire for petty political gains.
Dawn newspaper editorial
Kashmir dispute: Pakistan downgrades ties with India: Pakistan has announced plans to expel India’s top diplomat and suspend trade with its neighbour, deepening a row between the countries over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Indian-administered Kashmir has been on lockdown since the Indian government decided on Monday to strip the region of its special constitutional status. Phone networks and the internet have been cut off since Sunday evening. Tens of thousands of troops have been patrolling the streets. Instances of protest and stone-throwing have been reported, despite the communications blackout and a curfew.
BBC
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