Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/kashmir-india-autonomy-supreme-court-status-d7e9b2c0cb0222e18de08d75c6b0ebc5
India’s Supreme Court upheld Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2019 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, making it a federally administered territory. This is the first time in Indian history that a state has been reverted to a territory, the unprecedented move dividing them into Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud urged the government to restore Jammu-Kashmir’s statehood but maintain Ladakh as a federal territory. The court mandated legislative polls in the region by Sept. 30, which will potentially benefit Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming national elections. The 2019 decision was supported for fulfilling a Hindu nationalist pledge but faced opposition in Kashmir, which started a communication crackdown as a response. In exchange for accepting Indian rule, Kashmir, which is a Muslim-majority region, had special privileges since 1948. Discontent brewed an armed revolt in 1989 when India breached their autonomy agreements. Islamabad denies New Delhi’s insistence that Kashmir’s militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The verdict disappointed pro-India Kashmiri politicians, and former elected officials, like Mehbooba Mufti, criticized it as unconstitutional. “The verdict today is not just a legal judgment; it is a beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future and a testament to our collective resolve to build a stronger, more united India,” Modi wrote on Twitter. He said the decision was “historic and constitutionally upholds the decision taken by the Parliament of India.” Critics, including Omar Abdullah, were reportedly placed under house arrest. The 2019 integration involved controversial residency laws, seen by Muslim Kashmiris as an annexation, saying new laws were designed to change the region’s demography. Members of minority Hindu and Buddhist communities initially welcomed the move, but many of them later expressed fear of losing land and jobs in the Himalayan region. New Delhi’s efforts to shape a “Naya Kashmir” restricted civil liberties, silenced dissent, and intimidated media, raising tensions in the region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s argument that the special status was an obstacle to the former states’ unity with the rest of India. Though there are definitely other motives at play. It could be the center state attempting to keep peripheral states on the periphery. If that was the case, why would Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud urge the government to keep Jammu-Kashmir’s statehood but maintain Ladakh as a federal territory. The article never mentions if they’re from the same political party, or if it’s simply a difference of opinion, but it’s interesting why he argued that one should be a state and the other not. The implementation of the aforementioned mandated polls that would help Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party win the next national election is certainly part of the motivation for his actions.
With Jammu and Kashmir returning to being territories again, the question is if India will act as how dependency theory says that they will. Dependency theory is conflict theory that says wealth and power flows from both former and current colonies to the mother state. The small core of wealthy and powerful states are incentivized to keep the peripheral states on the periphery, using their power to make economic policies to keep them in poverty. Since their status will be territories and not states, it makes it much easier to not only keep them poor, but also take full control economically.