Why The Government's Carrot-And-Stik Approach May Not Work

The government’s carrot-and-stick approach in Kashmir may not work for long, especially since the carrots may or may not materialise

- Pradip R. Sagar

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is as good as gone. And with it, Jammu and Kashmir’s separate constitution, its special status, and all symbols of its uniqueness among other Indian states.

Yet, at the Independence Day gathering at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar, Governor Satya Pal Malik chose to uphold one cherished Kashmiri symbol. He inspected the guard of honour on a jeep that flew two flags—the Indian tricolour on one side, and the red Kashmiri banner showing a white plough and three white vertical stripes on the other.

The red flag, much like the land it represents, has a violent history. Its origin dates back to July 13, 1931, when the police shot dead 21 people for protesting against the Dogra rule in Kashmir. Mourners picked up the blood-soaked shirt of a victim, tied it to a pole and hoisted it as the new flag of Kashmir.

Twenty years later, Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference modified and adopted the banner as the state’s official flag. The plough, he said, symbolised the peasants who brought prosperity, and the stripes stood for the three geographical provinces that were integral to the state—Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. “This is a magnificent flag bequeathed to us by our struggle for freedom,” he said.

At the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, named after the Sheikh’s epithet, Governor Malik was at pains to tell Kashmiris that the voiding of Article 370 had not changed that legacy. Yes, Jammu and Kashmir was now a Union territory, and Ladakh had been carved out of it and made a separate UT. But the flag, apparently, was still a meaningful symbol—even though that, too, would be gone by October 31, when the two UTs will formally come into being.