Kashmir has coursed through a tumultuous political trajectory – from its accession to India in 1947 to the eventual exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, insurgency, wars with China and Pakistan, and the years leading to the abrogation of Article 370.
Normalcy has been elusive in the valley. But through all this, Sheikh Abdullah and his family have been an integral part of the region’s political discourse.
Sheikh’s rise in the region's polity as a centrifugal force is rooted in the agitation against the violence unleashed by Dogra troops in 1913. After his death in 1982, his son Farooq assumed the position – years before the insurgency peaked. Eventually, his grandson Omar followed suit, and was one of the prominent opposition members to be detained following the abrogation of Article 370.
To understand the history of Kashmir through the lens of the Abdullahs, their politics and its effects on the region, Abhinandan Sekhri speaks to academic Chitralekha Zutshi and journalists Ashwini Bhatnagar and Mehraj Lone, whose family has been living in Kashmir for generations.
Talking about the perception of Sheikh among the populace of Kashmir, Chitralekha says the leader is “maligned” among the Kashmiri youth, “who think he sold out Kashmir to India”. But he adds that the leader “instantly became a martyr” from a “traitor” when he was removed from the office of chief minister in 1953.
Mehraj says the discourse “questioning” Sheikh’s popularity is “mostly restricted to urban areas. In rural areas, it was always Sheikh Sheikh Sheikh.” He says one of the first things that the leader did after coming to power was give land to tillers. “In many ways, Kashmir is still Sheikh’s Kashmir”.
On the Supreme Court validating the abrogation of Article 370, Ashwini says Kashmir is never going to go back to what it was in the 80s and 90s. “Young people have realised that it is futile to do this because it is counter-productive to their own future.” Mehraj says for all these political movements, “you need young people. We don't know what is going to happen.”
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