Book Review: Rekha Chowdhary, Jammu and Kashmir: Politics of Identity and Separatism

Date01 June 2017
AuthorSangit Kumar Ragi
DOI10.1177/2321023017698272
Published date01 June 2017
Subject MatterBook Reviews
Book Reviews 95
communities’ rights’ (p. 131). Farmers’ rights are thus trapped in and determined by the discourses on
property. While their rights are cast in the name of ‘shared knowledge and traditional practices, contribu-
tions of past knowledge, and so on’, the overall strategy of giving them an equal comparative position
has actually disabled these rights (p. 165). Promotion of ownership along with innovations and deploy-
ment of high technology in giving effect to successful implementation of intellectual property however
laws has not only circumscribed capabilities of the farmers and indigenous peoples when it comes to the
question of equal standing but also has already displaced to a great extent the conventional ownership
norms. Chandra’s point is that projections of expertise, risk management and enhanced productivity do
not serve any good purpose for the farmers, tribes and a large number of heterogeneous indigenous peo-
ples in different parts of the world.
However, rather than merely hinting at it, the project could have had more discussions of the con-
struction of rights in the global linguistic space where ‘biocultural capital’—though a term she never
uses anywhere in the book—is imagined, circulated, thought out and contested. Chandra’s critique in this
sense suffers from her reluctance to re-engage head-on with the very normative conditioning of rights in
the global network of ‘law, life and biocultural’, where this specific form of capital is now operating.
Despite the brilliant and ‘cunning thesis’, one could also discuss Chandra’s work though as suggestive
of how capital has started living a subterranean biocultural life by creating new ‘natures’ in the tropics.
Hidam Premananda
University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
E-mail: praemhidam@gmail.com
Rekha Chowdhary, Jammu and Kashmir: Politics of Identity and Separatism. New Delhi: Routledge. 2016.
276 pages. `895.
DOI: 10.1177/2321023017698272
In this book, Rekha Chowdhary makes a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and spread of militancy
and identity politics in the state of Jammu and Kashmir since its integration with India. Although she
does not discount the role of external factors, the book focuses largely on the interplay of internal factors
and the political, economic, cultural and religious forces which led to the growth and strengthening of
militancy in the state. It may be said, therefore, that the book adopts an internal perspective, which makes
it different from a plethora of writings that have come up on the subject in the past several decades.
The central premise of the book is that at the juncture when religious polarization across the country
at the time of independence was at its peak, despite being a Muslim-dominated state, the people and
political leadership of Kashmir ignored the communal call of Jinnah and chose to seal their destiny with
India. The Government of India, however, did not handle the Kashmir issue deftly, and a series of
anti-democratic steps and several constitutional and administrative initiatives aimed at erosion of the
autonomy of the state created a trust deficit in the people of the valley, who gradually drifted towards
violence, extremism and separatism. The process started in 1953 with dislodging of government and
the detention of Sheikh Abdullah, a mass leader with cross-sectional support who had played a pivotal
role in integration of the state of Jammu and Kashmir with India. His arrest was disapproved of by the
people of Kashmir who considered it as an attack on their autonomy. Subsequent intrusion by the centre
and attempts to derail the democratic institutions and processes in the state deepened the alienation of
the people, who resorted to violence and militancy, resulting in mass exodus of Kashmiri Pundits and
Hindus from the valley in 1989. The author notes that democratic institutions and processes were

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