New Delhi’s Arbitrary Move Shrinks Pro-India Space In Kashmir

Mohammad Ashraf Bhat prefers to sit indoors ever since the ruling dispensation in New Delhi did away with the special position of Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories. For Bhat, the consistent lockdown or the curbs are not the reason for staying home, but to evade the pesky questions his neighborhood pals put to him following the Modi government’s unilateral move.

Bhat, a resident of Budgam, would wear the secular and democratic culture of India on his sleeves. He always used these values to draw an analogy between India and Pakistan to convince his peers why people in Kashmir must choose India over Pakistan.

However, after August 5, things changed entirely.

“A well-read friend asked me if I still believed in Indian democracy and secularism,” says Bhat. “I felt like a fish out of water.”

He had no answers for the embarrassing but rational questions he faced in his locality.

Like Bhat, many secular and liberal Kashmiris with a pro-India bone in their bodies are grappling with similar questions, and find themselves now rather awkwardly placed.

A 60-year-old businessman in Srinagar, who did not wish to be named, said everyone in his area knew him for his strong pro-India views, but now he had changed his stance.

“I cannot answer the questions people ask me. What Modi did has forced me to change my pro-India stance