Transformation in Indian Politics after the Pulwama Attack

Year 2020, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 205 - 219, 13.09.2020

Hatice Çelik

Abstract

The Republic of India (India) is one of the states of South Asia that has made itself more visible politically, economically and culturally in recent years. Increasing its economic capacity and policies exhibited under Prime Minister Modi also intensified the academic interest over India. Some developments in the region in 2019 and 2020 have also directly affected India's domestic politics. After the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019, both India, Pakistan, and Kashmir faced some important situations. In this study, after the Pulwama attack, the decisions taken by the Indian government in domestic and foreign policy (only Pakistan and Kashmir will be included in this section) will be examined. The political and social implications of these decisions will be assessed, and the Indian elections, the abolition of Kashmir's autonomy status, and finally, the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be discussed as cases. The study will mainly benefit from the official statements of the Indian government and decision-makers and the constitutional amendments made. In this context, the changes and transformation in the domestic and foreign policy of India will be tried to be revealed. The main argument of the study is that the Pulwama attack has been a turning point for the Indian government, and this attack is seen as the legitimizer of many critical decisions taken in domestic and foreign policy. In other words, it is concluded that with the Pulwama attack, the security policies have been prioritized in the domestic and foreign policy of India.

Keywords

India, Pulwama Attack, Indian Domestic Politics, Transformation

References

• Advani, K. (2019). Nation first, party next, self-last: LK Advani in a blog post. The Economic Times. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/nation-first-party-next-self-last-l-k-advani-in-a-blog-post/articleshow/68725479.cms.
• BBCa. (2019). Kashmir in lockdown after autonomy scrapped. BBC News. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49246434
• BBCb. (2019). Pulwama attack: India mourns Kashmir dead. BBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47266001?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cgmkz7g3xn0t/pulwama-attack&link_location=live-reporting-story
• BBCc. (2019). Balakot: Indian air strikes target militants in Pakistan. BBC News. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47366718
• BBCd. (2019). India Elections 2019. BBC News. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48315659?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c27kzzpqm7xt/india-elections-2019&link_location=live-reporting-story
• BBCe (2019). Citizenship Amendment Bill: India's new 'anti-Muslim' law explained. BBC News. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50670393
• CNN. (2019). Pakistan says it shot down two Indian jets as Kashmir border crisis deepens. CNN World. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/27/india/india-pakistan-strikes-escalation-intl/index.html.
• Ellis-Petersen, H. (2019). India strips Kashmir of special status and divides it in two. The Guardian. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/31/india-strips-kashmir-of-special-status-and-divides-it-in-two
• Fareed, R. (2019). Kashmir suicide attack kills dozens of Indian security forces. Aljazeera. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/indian-security-forces-killed-kashmir-blast-reports-190214110644498.html
• Ganguly, S., & Pardesi, M. S. (2009). Explaining Sixty Years of India's Foreign Policy. India Review, 8(1), 4-19.
• Gettleman, J., & Raj, S. (2019). Pakistan Frees Indian Pilot Who Was Beaten by a Mob and Then Served Tea. The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/world/asia/india-pakistan-plane-abhinandan-varthaman-india.html.
• Ghoshal, D., & Kumar, M. (2019). Modi makes election vow to remove Kashmir's special rights. Reuters. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.reuters.com/article/india-election-kashmir/modi-makes-election-vow-to-remove-kashmirs-special-rights-idUSKCN1RK0JS.
• Goel, V., & Kumar, H. (2019). India Elections 2019: Farmers Are Hurting and Millions Are Voting. The New York Times. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/world/asia/india-election-modi-farmers.html.
• HindustanTimes. (2019). Lok Sabha elections 2019: Outrage as Yogi Adityanath says Indian Army is Modi’s. HindustanTimes. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019-outrage-as-yogi-adityanath-says-indian-army-is-modi-s/story-tlZVUUJjn5W76XttBnCGAM.html.
• Human Rights Watch. (2020). “Shoot the Traitors”: Discrimination against Muslims under India’s New Citizenship Policy. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/04/09/shoot-traitors/discrimination-against-muslims-under-indias-new-citizenship-policy.
• India Population. (2019). Population of Uttar Pradesh 2019. India Population Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://indiapopulation2019.com/population-of-uttar-pradesh-2019.html.
• India, T. T. (2019). Dark day in constitutional history of India: Sonia Gandhi on passage of Citizenship Bill by Parliament. The Times of India. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/dark-day-in-constitutional-history-of-india-sonia-gandhi-on-passage-of-citizenship-bill-by-parliament/articleshow/72478929.cms
• Jacob, J. (2019). "Be Careful": Poll Body Warns Yogi Adityanath for "PM Modi's Army" Remark. NDTV. Retrieved June 30, 2020, from https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/be-careful-election-commission-warns-yogi-adityanath-for-pm-modis-army-remark-2018735
• Modi N. (2019). Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. [Tweet]. Twitter. Retrieved April 18, 2020, from https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1096035566670565376
• NDTV. (2019). "Detect, Delete, Deport": BJP's Ram Madhav on Assam Citizens' List. NDTV. Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/on-assam-list-people-excluded-to-be-deported-to-their-country-ram-madhav-1914485.
• Pong, J., & Shrikanth, S. (2019). India 2019 election results: Modi’s landslide in charts. Financial Times. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from https://www.ft.com/content/1a4ce784-7dce-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560
• The Gazette of India. (2019). The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2020, from http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf
• Zargar, A. R. (2019). Indian government pushing new immigration law that would single out Muslims. CBC News. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-citizenship-bill-proposed-today-by-narendra-modi-government-would-single-out-muslims-2019-12-09