Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan is of the view that today’s India and its citizens are respected by the world more than ever before.
“The country as a whole is undergoing a change. The India and the Indian citizen of today are being given a lot more respect by the world at large. A holder of the Indian passport is more valued today than he or she has been ever before. Kashmir, without a doubt, is an integral part of India and whatever takes place at any level, or in any sphere of Indian society, I believe will benefit Kashmiri society as well,” Khan told Brighter Kashmir’s Editor Farooq Wani in an interview.
Elaborating further, the Kerala Governor said one had to only look at the sanguine way in which the Supreme Court of India had dealt with the abrogation of Article 370 to establish once and for all the undeniable fact that J&K was an integral part of a democratic and united India.
“We are a democratic country. Some like what is happening and some don’t. This decision by the Supreme Court with regard to Article 370 is far sighted and for the long-term benefit of Indian society. The apex court’s judgement is a natural culmination of what has been mentioned in the Constitution of India. Article 370 always was and always was meant to be transitory in nature,” Khan said.
“The point I want to make is that in all of our states and union territories except Kashmir, a person has always had the right to approach the Election Commission if he or she felt that they were electorally disadvantaged in any way. In Kashmir, because of Article 370, no one could approach,” he said.
Khan said because of Article 370, the political executive and the bureaucracy in J&K had unjustly always been protected whereas the common man in that region had always remained disempowered.
“Historically if you see, in the first elections in that state, there were no elections in 69 constituencies and results were summarily declared. No one got any relief. And this was because Article 370 did not provide strength to the common man to voice a disagreement with the system that was in place. It only benefitted the governing authority,” he maintained.
On December 11, a five-judge Constitutional Bench of Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s August 5, 2019 move to abrogate Article 370 saying Article 370 was transitionally introduced in 1954 to facilitate administrative arrangements existing at that time and that it was a “temporary provision” expressly used “to slowly bring Jammu and Kashmir on par with the other states of India”.
Khan said he didn’t look at Kashmir as being different to the other states of the country.
“The sectors of the Kashmiri economy like tourism, hospitality and agriculture for instance, will flourish as long the Centre has a strong will to stop all anti-India activities, which had its roots across the border,” he said. “If we are able to stop all forms of instability, a sensitive and strategic place like Kashmir stands to benefit. From a tourism point of view, Kashmir attracts people from across India and from abroad”.
When asked about his thoughts on a move by Saudi Arabia to facilitate the visit to India of the Imam-e-Kaaba to lay the foundation stone of the Masjid Mohammad bin Abdullah (the mosque being built in Uttar Pradesh in place of the demolished Babri Mosque) as per a Supreme Court order, he said, “From a religious aspect, I will say that whatever is reportedly happening in Ayodhya with regard to the foundation of Ram Temple or the installation of a Kaaba replica, I am unaware, but having said that, if there is an agreement in that regard, it is only to be expected.”
Change, he said, is constant not only in India, but across the world, and if there is any message to be passed on, “I would say what we have to keep in mind is the need for peace and stability at all times, no negativity of any kind.”
“It is really up to all of us to choose how we want to be,” Governor Khan concluded.