J&K is no longer the same J&K. It has been dismembered | The Indian Express

J&K is no longer the same J&K. It has been dismembered | The Indian Express

Written by P Chidambaram |Updated: August 11, 2019 7:41:22 am

P Chidambaram is former Finance minister of India.

J&K is no longer the same J&K. It has been dismembered

If the precedent is followed, it is only a matter of time before Darjeeling will be carved out as a Union Territory out of West Bengal. The routine will be to ask the state Assembly to “express its views” or impose President’s rule and dissolve the Assembly.

The success or failure of the government’s extraordinary actions will be decided by the little over 7 million people of the Kashmir Valley — not by the thousands of troops deployed by the government. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

I have written often on Jammu and Kashmir but today is different. J&K is no longer the same J&K. It is no longer a state. It has been dismembered. There are now two Union Territories — Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir. Never before under the Constitution of India has a state been reduced to a Union Territory.