Article 370 at Litfest: What’s the Centre’s plan now, oppn and allies ask

What’s literature, or a literature festival, without politics? And what’s politics in these present times without a discussion on the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir?
In keeping with its tradition of giving a platform to ideas and debate on the most important issues affecting us, the Times Litfest Delhi, the capital’s premier literary meet, began its latest edition on Saturday with a session on the future of the Valley.
Former Union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid, the first to speak, argued that the decision was badly implemented. “Article 370 was an attempt to ensure Kashmir remains a part of India psychologically and in every other way. But its abrogation had the opposite effect. It (Abrogation) should not mean the obliteration of the aspiration of Kashmiri people,” he said.
If Congress was critical of the decision, even BJD, which supported the Modi government’s move, indicated it was not entirely comfortable with how things were playing out. Party MP Pinaki Mishra said his party believed the decision to abrogate Article 370 was long overdue and would allow laws passed by the government to play out in their full amplitude in Kashmir, but acknowledged the problem lay in how the decision was implemented.
“This government is extraordinary on grand announcements, but it’s the fine brushwork that is lacking. We are still waiting to see whether there is a sequitur plan in place to handle the blowback and emotional repercussions. Peace is in place with heavy maintenance of forces and we don’t know how long this can carry on. People are coming back with stories of substantial privations,” Mishra said. “This is a government that relies on the oratorical magic of the PM and the strong arm of the HM (home minister) and is shorn of talent on all other fronts. This is a problem. You have to find the right interlocutors to deal with the people,” he added.
BJP’s Jay Panda countered by saying Article 370 was not just temporary but also the only article in the Constitution with a temporary tag. “What is happening today is the unfinished part of the Partition of India,” he said. Panda also said the clampdown in Kashmir was only a transitional phase and things would change. “To comments about the clampdown on communication, my response is that right to life is more important than the right to communication,” he said.
But BJP ally JD(U) expressed its reservation about the government’s move. JD(U) MP Pawan Verma said, “It is a specious argument that all militancy was because of Article 370. There has been a tendency in the last few months where even a constructive critique of the government makes you an anti-national or supporter of Pakistan.”
In a barb aimed at the government, Verma also quoted Chanakya as having said that one must not venture where you don’t know how to get out. “What we see is a frozen peace. Not normalcy. In the world’s largest democracy, let us not compare ourselves with Pakistan and Hong Kong. People of Kashmir are not lifeless statistics. We have to have a roadmap beyond the attempt to prove normalcy,” he added.
The most strident support for the government’s decision came from former diplomat Kanwal Sibal, who said mainstream Kashmiri leaders had not done enough to “integrate” with India, nor taken up for the cause of Kashmiri Pandits. “The ambient situation made it imperative for the government to do something,” he said, adding autonomy was used by leaders to “radicalise the Valley”.