The politics of rhetoric: examining popular discourse in Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

This study examines diverse political slogans in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) from 1947 to 2019. It discusses the rhetorical impacts of these slogans and how they impacted and shaped the diverse ideological orientations across the different regions of J&K. Building on the rhetorical function that political assertion serves through the use of slogans, the article analyses slogans that have shaped the cultural and political trajectory of J&K since 1947. The analysis is insightful for understanding the political history of J&K and the role of institutions and processes like the party system and elections in the smooth functioning of democracy. Though considerable literature exists on J&K’s politics and conflict, however, the subject of slogans has remained largely neglected, despite the significance that they hold for a comprehensive historical understanding of the region. Studying this subject, we believe, not only opens a political window to analyse regional history differently but also highlights how the rhetorical functions of political assertions shape popular opinions and hold the potential to impact thought patterns and cultural settings. Strategies to develop slogans and how the political parties and other groups used them will be analysed contextually and the developments that have shaped the modern political history of J&K.

Keywords:

• India
• Jammu and Kashmir
• slogans
• politics
• elections
• conflict

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Christopher Snedden, Prof. Werner Menski, Prof Asmer Beg, Prof Irfan ul Haq, Dr Suhail Lone, Dr Haseeb, Dr Tahir Firaz, Shaista Afzal, Namrata Hazarika, Sana Chaudhary and many other friends for their unstinting support, guidance and all the illuminating conversations and constructive comments. The authors are also indebted to the Editor of TWQ, for commenting on the various drafts of this article and encouraging us to complete this article. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers, whose comments have strengthened this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Praja Parishad was an umbrella organization of a small number of elite Hindu groups of people in the township of Jammu. The group tried to represent the regional aspiration of the Hindus in the Jammu division and stood for complete integration of J&K with India.

2 The demand for separate statehood for Jammu got momentum after the 1990s when an armed struggle emerged in Kashmir. The civil society and Jammu-based activists started demanding a separate state for Jammu after the abrogation of 370. Their main argument is that Kashmiris are ruling the erstwhile state of J&K for the last seven decades and it is the people of Jammu that are discriminated against and don’t have to say in the power-sharing matrix.

3 Ashfaq Majeed Wani was the first armed rebel of JKLF who was killed in an encounter with the state forces in the city of Srinagar after receiving arms training in Pakistan Administered Kashmir.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Javid Ahmad Ahanger

Javid Ahmad Ahanger obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and is currently an Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science AMU, Aligarh, India.

Muzamil Yaqoob

Muzamil Yaqoob (corresponding author) is a doctoral candidate at the School of Public Policy, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D), India. (ORCID: 0000-0002-4825-6342).