Anika Nazir
Congress scion Rahul Gandhi has entered Jammu Kashmir in the last leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra with a political baggage which does not gel well with the idea of India that rests on the Constitutional edifice reinforced with the twin pillars of unity and integrity.
Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is being backed, welcomed and is expected to be joined by hardliners who directly or indirectly support or have sympathy for divisive forces who do not believe in the integral character of the nation. This could break the continuity in the over 3500 km long walk as a majority of people who formed part of the chain running across India strongly believe Jammu Kashmir to be an integral part of India without any scope for negotiation or compromise.
The Congress think tank may be faced with “to be or not to be” sort of question. On the one hand there might be a fear of losing the support base garnered so far with the Bharat Jodo Yatra and on the other hand they may be heavily banking on the support of hardliners for the success of the Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
The separatists and hardliners see the Congress Party (as against the BJP) as their natural ally. In what has probably kept the issue burning, Rahul’s great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru had taken the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and had also conceded to special status. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a vocal critic on the matter, was prevented by Nehru government from entering Kashmir. Successive Congress regimes have been soft on separatists who have been engaging both, India and Pakistan on the issue. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited separatist leader Yasin Malik to 7, Race Course. Malik has since been convicted and sentenced to life for funding terrorism. The Congress Working Committee had passed a scathing resolution against abrogation of Article 370 and breaking up of the state.
Rahul comes with the baggage of Congress legacy. He cannot afford to distance himself from the historic and ideological baggage which has given a liberal image to the Congress Party. So much so that several alleged tukde tukde activists also officially joined the party. The separatists and hardliners may be seeing this as an opportunity for ‘show of strength’ by using the might of the grand old party. Rahul’s yatra will end up legitimizing the anti-national agenda of the leaders who stand marginalized by their own people in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress Party think tank undoubtedly sees ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ as an opportunity to unite the opposition.
Political rivals in Jammu and Kashmir, former Chief Ministers Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who will reportedly join Rahul’s yatra, had earlier shared dais in opposition to the move to revoke Article 370 by being party to the Gupkar Declaration. The Declaration got an endorsement from expected quarters – Pakistan.
The baggage with which Rahul has entered Kashmir is bound to attract local leaders, including those who were part of the Gupkar Declaration. Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has hardly any option but to move together even with the Gupkar leaders who were united together under one flag which was not tricolour.
(The author is a Srinagar-based political
commentator and social activist. Her Twitter
handle is @i_anika_nazir. )
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