Long before the assembly elections were finally held in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, this columnist had anticipated that the answer to the question that whether statehood would follow or not, or of what kind, would depend on the nature of the results in those elections.

Thus, I may be pardoned for saying with Hamlet, “bless my prophetic soul”.

In its depressing verdict on Article 370, arrived at through questionable procedure according to the late Fali Nariman, the Justice Chandrachud-led Supreme Court had made the gentle suggestion to the powers-that-be to return statehood to the territory “as soon as possible.”

That phraseology got converted into the governmental phrase of “at an appropriate time.”

That time seems forever inappropriate, and few are now in doubt as to why that may be so.

Peace-loving as Kashmiri politicians are, it seems that the realisation have now dawned on them that reasoned case-making may not find heft with the Modi government. This regime seems to have only an ornamental attachment to democracy, and a deeper commitment to sectarian rule.

Thus, the grand old party, The Indian National Congress, sought to exercise the constitutional right of peaceful assembly and mass action on July 19, only to be held back by the jackboot at the very gates of the party office.

Notably, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi have written to the Prime Minister, seeking restoration of statehood to the Union Territory during the forthcoming session of parliament.

That letter, as per reports, has the endorsement of some two hundred and thirty members of the Lok Sabha.

Extreme political centralisation is idealised by those who favour the extreme centralisation of wealth

The party also means to march to Delhi from Jammu and Kashmir to knock at the house of the people during the Monsoon Session on July 23.

Presumably, the combined opposition in the House will back the just demand for lifting Kashmiris out of their ignoble humiliation.

But here is the larger point:

If the shenanigans that are being witnessed now before the forthcoming Bihar elections are any guide, the nation must understand that the retention of state power is fatally important for India’s current right-wing dispensation, that now seems to be closely resembling Europe during the 1930s.

It is because unless the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has governments in all states of the bludgeoned and dystopian republic, it cannot muster the numbers needed as per the Constitution to change the character of the state to its civilisational obsessions.

The fact that extreme political centralisation is idealised by those who favour the extreme centralisation of wealth is of course a well recognised lesson of history.

What helps the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi-led power-grid is the fact that this concretely looming possibility seems not to have adequately registered on India’s diverse political power centres.

In their complacency they seem to think that India’s constitutional democracy is a letter writ in stone, secure from the worst marauder there may be.

It may be time to rethink that complacency and make the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir a case to test the future.

---