The Himalayan region of Kashmir will not regain its special status as a semi-autonomous region. This was decided by the Supreme Court in India. This is a success for Prime Minister Modi and a setback for society.

Several years after the controversial revocation of India's Kashmir region's partial autonomy, India's highest court confirmed the revocation of its special status. The court justified its decision by saying that the special status was only temporary. At the same time, they called for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to become a federal state with the same status as all other Indian states “as soon as possible.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the ruling as “historic.”

The former state of Jammu and Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority region in India that the government wants to integrate more closely into the Hindu-majority country by withdrawing partial autonomy. This special status gives the Himalayan region its own constitution and broad political powers.

High symbolic value for the population

Among other things, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has the right to have its own constitution. Additionally, only Kashmiris were allowed to buy land and settle in the Himalayan Valley. Although state autonomy has been increasingly eroded in recent decades, state autonomy has enormous symbolic value for society. This special status is seen as a clear commitment to a secular India, as advocated by the country's founders and freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

By revoking the special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled his election promise in 2019. To prevent protests, the army was deployed to restrict people's freedom of movement in the Kashmir region. Internet and telephone connections also barely worked there for a long time. Many people in Kashmir, which is predominantly Muslim, worry that the region will become “Hinduized” with the removal of broad autonomy.

New crisis with neighboring Pakistan

The move also sparked a new crisis with neighboring Muslim-majority Pakistan, which also claims the territory. Both countries control parts of Kashmir.

The Kashmir conflict has been going on for more than 70 years – since the former colonial empire of British India became independent and split into India and Pakistan. Nuclear powers are already waging war in the region. As a result of the revocation of the special status, politicians and activists, among others, applied to the court to review the constitutionality of the measure.

Dancers for Modi

The decision is likely to strengthen Modi's Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, ahead of elections next year. The judges also ordered the election commission on Monday to hold regional elections in the Himalayan region in September.