Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s prime minister on June 9 for a rare third term.
Although the Bharatiya Janata Party, together with its National Democratic Alliance allies, had won a majority, despite a sharp reduction in their seats compared with the 2019 elections, final election results showed that Modi’s BJP won 240 seats, well below the 272 needed for a majority. Modi has been elected leader of the NDA alliance, and secured 293 seats in the 543 lower house of parliament.
It was seen as a huge setback for the Indian opposition’s alliance and Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi.
International various entities as well human rights groups stated: “The recent election victory of Narendra Modi has raised significant concerns over minority rights, creating fears among India’s Muslim community…Modi, who has been a polarizing figure since his first term in 2014, has often faced criticism for his government’s stance towards minorities, particularly Muslims…The BJP, under Modi’s leadership, has been associated with increased societal tensions. Modi’s tenure has seen a rise in civil society attacks, which many attribute to the BJP’s nationalist agenda”.
In fact, encouraged by the fanatic Modi, Hindu extremist outfits such as BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, and other similar parties, have been promoting religious and ethnic chauvinism especially against Muslims who are being violently targeted by radical Hindus. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had stated on record: “Bharat is Hindu Rashtra and all Bharatiyas are Hindus”.
The BJP won the Indian general elections of 2014 and 2019 on the basis of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans. Since Modi became PM, he started implementing the ideology of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism). Again, during the election campaign of 2024, Hindu majority had been mobilized especially on ‘hate Muslim’ slogans.
Modi’s BJP launched its large-scale, state-funded election campaign long before the elections of the Lok Sabha held between April 19 and June 1. The government amended the rules for selecting members of the Election Commission, removed the chief justice from the committee and replaced him with a minister to be appointed by the PM—What is then left to say about the impartiality of the Election Commission?
On March 21, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, was arrested by India’s financial crime agency, as well as other ministers and various entities of the opposition parties.
India’s main opposition party Congress on May 16, condemned Premier Modi for anti-Muslim comments in election campaign speeches, which has heightened concerns over sectarian tensions.
Modi had claimed that the main opposition Congress party would redistribute the nation’s wealth to Muslims if it won. He accused Congress of planning to commit “vote jihad”, and accused that his opponents were rallying Muslims to vote against him.
BBC reported on May 7: “Opposition leaders and political commentators say PM Modi, who’s seeking a rare third term…other leaders from his Hindu nationalist party are resorting to blatant Islamophobia”.
Implementing the same strategy, India is applying the same moves in its worst form in Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan’s civil and military leaders have repeatedly indicated that India is planning another false flag operation against Pakistan in order to divert attention from its internal issues and from failure of its external policy with the real aim of winning general elections 2024.
On August 5, 2019, Modi-led government abrogated articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to Indian-Occupied Kashmir. New Delhi bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to be ruled by the federal government. On the same day, strict military lockdown was imposed in Indian-Occupied Kashmir which continues unabated.
In this respect, the deployment of more than 900,000 military troops in Indian-Occupied Kashmir, who have martyred tens of thousands of Kashmiris, including women and children, through brutal tactics-fake encounters, while closure of mosques, shortage of food and medicines for patients, have further increased the plight of the Kashmiris.
Besides, under a well-planned hidden agenda, the Modi regime has intensified ethno- demographic changes in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. In this context, various Indian moves such as issuance of domicile certificates to more than 800,000 non-Kashmiris, registration of almost 2.5 million new non-local voters in Indian-Occupied Kashmir—failure of fake drama to host G-20 summit on May 22-24, 2023 there, from time to time, violations of the Line of Control by shelling inside the Pakistani side— in violation of the ceasefire agreement of 2003 might be cited as nstance.
Regarding the upcoming election, Voice of America on September 2, Associated Press on August 13, August 24 and August 30 wrote: “Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989, while India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels [Freedom fighters] and government forces have been killed in the conflict which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate struggle for freedom”.
It further said: “Indian-administered Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ended its support to the local Kashmiri People’s Democratic Party, bringing down the coalition government and causing the assembly to dissolve…Indian-held Kashmir lost its flag, criminal code, constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs…a slew of legal and administrative changes have been installed without public input, much to the anger of the region’s people whose civil liberties have also been curbed and media intimidated. Indian officials have repeatedly said that the moves to shape what it calls “Naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir” was necessary fully integrate the region into the country”.
VoA pointed out: “In theory, the polls will see a transition of power from New Delhi to a newly elected local assembly with a chief minister serving as the region’s top elected official with a council of ministers. But the new polls will hardly give the new government any legislative powers as Indian-controlled Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory”…a region directly controlled by the federal government…with India’s parliament remaining as the region’s legislator. The elected assembly will only have nominal control”.
It added: “Many are indifferent, while some believe their vote could be a way to express deep resentment of Modi’s party. Most Muslim residents of the region want independence from India or unification with Pakistan. Kashmir’s pro-India political elite, many of whom have been jailed for allegedly disrupting peace and slapped with corruption cases in 2019, see an opportunity in these elections to politically oppose the changes by India’s ruling party. Previous elections have seen Kashmiri Muslim separatist leaders who challenge India’s sovereignty over the region call for a boycott of the vote, calling it an illegitimate exercise under military occupation”.
Associated Press wrote: “With campaigning picking up in the runup to the election, India’s main opposition Congress party has formed an alliance to jointly seek the vote with the National Conference, the region’s largest pro-India Kashmiri political party. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has a weak political base in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of decades of anti-India rebellion, while it’s strong in Jammu. India to hold first assembly elections in disputed Kashmir in 10 years. Since many changes the region has remained on edge, governed by a New Delhi appointed administrator and run by bureaucrats with no democratic credentials”.
It elaborated: “The new polls will be held between Sept. 18 and Oct. 1, India’s Election Commission said that the vote will take place in a staggered process that allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent any outbreak of violence. Votes will be counted on Oct. 4. The multi-stage voting will elect a local government… a chief minister who will serve as the region’s top official with a council of ministers… from pro-India parties participating in the elections”.
Associated Press further said: “In the remote Himalayas, tens of thousands of Indian soldiers maintain a tight vigil along the highly militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. The terrain is tough and the weather is harsh as the soldiers go through counterinsurgency drills and tactical exercises following months of deadly rebel attacks in the disputed region”.
It added: “Authorities say violence in the region has reduced significantly since 2019, when the Indian government stripped Kashmir of semiautonomy and brought it under direct federal control. But in recent months, there has been a sharp rise in militant attacks on government forces, particularly in parts of Hindu-dominated southern Jammu area. The string of attacks killed 14 soldiers last month, stoking fears of militancy returning to the area”.
However, all these changes and moves are part of pre-election rigging in the upcoming election in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. And India deployed 300 paramilitary companies in Kashmir ahead of assembly polls. Nonetheless, Modi can stage another false flag operation against Pakistan to strengthen the NDA coalition government without bothering that full-scale conventional war with Pakistan may culminate into atomic war, enveloping the entire region and probably the whole world.
Pakistan’s civil and military leaders have repeatedly indicated that India is planning another false flag operation against Pakistan in order to divert attention from its internal issues and from failure of its external policy with the real aim of winning general elections 2024. They have frequently stated that Pakistan’s armed forces “are ready to respond to any Indian aggression with full might.
International entities demand that Kashmir’s statehood status has to be restored for the new government to have power. Even Kashmiri pro-India parties, like the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, have vowed to politically and legally fight for the return of Kashmir’s semi-autonomy.
Nevertheless, the international community must urgently take notice of India’s illegal actions aimed at manipulating state elections.
