People’s consent is missing in how J&K has been taken over by the ‘rest of India’ | The Indian Express

People’s consent is missing in how J&K has been taken over by the ‘rest of India’ | The Indian Express

Written by Rajmohan Gandhi |Updated: August 19, 2019 8:39:18 am

The writer is research professor at Centre for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

People’s consent is missing in how J&K has been taken over by the ‘rest of India’

Betrayals may be inevitable in our fallen world. Taking people for granted, however, and doing with them whatever we want without their consent, is going too far.

It was not for their skin colour that India’s British rulers were hated. They were despised because they took the land by force, without consent.

To Indians celebrating the change in Jammu and Kashmir’s status, I suggest that they reflect on the word “consent”. All healthy human involvements seem to require the other person’s consent.