The prologue of the book ‘Bharatbarsara Ganatantra O Sanghiya Byabastha’ by Ajeya Rout starts with questioning the statement of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23 in the USA that ‘everything is fine in India’ and in the process, the author tries to explain that nothing moves fine in India in the context of abrogation of Article 370 and 35A and the development in Kashmir after August 5.
He argues in the book that Article 370 was one of the strongest Constitutional references of federalism and democracy in India and with its abrogation and downsizing of a State into two separate union territories through majoritarian constitutional coup in Parliament and use of military, the structure of federalism has been blown off.
The 150-page book, written in lucid Odia language, gives an update of the current socio-economic and political turmoil of the country. The book appears more as an independent inquiry into history with less political bias.
The writer has narrated the last 3,000 years of history of Kashmir taking references of the 12th century historian Kalhana’s Rajatarangini and makes a chronological presentation of the rulers till the disappearance of last the monarch of the State of Kashmir. The history of formation of the State and its people, conversion and reconversion of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, etc has been dwelt upon.
In the subsequent chapters, the writer has explained in brief the role played by the governing class of India and various political parties in division of India on communal line and how we still carry the legacy of that mistake.
While recognising the contribution of the movement of peasants and labourers with secular, democratic and socialistic aspirations to overthrow the feudatory States that pressurised the kings and feudal lords to merge in democratic India, the writer is critical of the process of unification. He also said that the secular, socialistic and democratic aspirations of the people have not been recognised; rather a few communal politicians and capitalists were very much eager to capture the power at the cost of the unified India while undermining the leadership of Md Ali Jinnah, Dr BR Ambedkar, Subhash Bose and many socialist and democratic visionaries.
The aspirations of many other minority religious leaders, Dalits and Adivasies and other marginalised sections too were ignored. Thousands of freedom fighters who toiled to build a unified India were betrayed by new India ruling elites. Quoting BBC, he wrote that about 50 lakh people died during the partition which was one of the worst manmade disasters in human history but the lessons have not much influenced the political parties in India.
The Article 370 was a historic necessity and one of the model arrangements for an ideal federal structure .It is interesting to note that Article 370 was passed in the Constituent Assembly unanimously with only one dissenter. He was Maulana Hasrat Mohani, one of the founders of CPI, who was seeking similar models of autonomy for all other States of India but not just for Kashmir. The writer has expressed similar view as a crusader for federalism and democracy who also hails from Left background as a trade union leader, writer and thinker. The inner cry of the book is to denounce communal and caste politics, regionalism and put human interest at the centre to build a heaven on earth.