• BODHISATWA BHATTACHARYYA

The attempt is henceforth made in this write up to point out and study the issue of certain problems in Indian state and under the light of such an interest in the field of research, brings me down to conduct an extensive research on the issue of the plight of Kashmiri pandits which in turn is considered as one of the most significant instances of the problematic elements of the Indian state. Speaking about the origin of the problem, the Kashmiri pandits were the people of saraswat Brahmin origin who were born and brought up in the valley of Kashmir. The turnmoil of the Kashmiri pandits has a long historical lineage of living as outcasts in the state of India. The hindu population of the Kashmir valley consisted about 4-5% during the period of British India and the chain of events popped up in the period of post 1947 period when there were a chain of events like the accession of the princely state in 1947 and the announcement of the coming of land reforms in 1950 where some 20% of the Pandit population left the valley in mass exodus. They opined the accession to be uncertain and feared the economic and social diminution in the wake of land reforms. The key highlight of events can be traced as early as January 1990 with the dismissal of Farooq Abdullah’s government and the imposition of Governor’s rule in the state, the Islamic extremism had snowballed into aggression against the Hindu community over the valley which in turn started giving out threatening statements over loudspeakers from the mosques with the objective of prioritizing Islam over Hinduism. A series of events then triggered off as Hindus of Kashmir became easy targets of Islamic propaganda of the Jammu and Kashmir liberation front(JKLF) and Jamaet e Islam and other militant wings. The estimates and accounts have their clear specifities of the numbers of this population whose presence is gradually receding. As per the data of a J&K migrant relief commission, as of January 2021, around 1,54,000 Kashmiri Pandits are living as migrants. Around 40,000 families are represented in Jammu and the rest 20,000 are located in Delhi and other states and cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad etc. Thousands are still present in the valley. However there has hardly been any representation from this community that has been a part of the elected assembly in Kashmir for decades. The last time, someone from the Kashmiri pandit community made it to the assembly was in 2002. Even before migration the assembly formed in 1996 had a lone MLA who belonged to the community, despite of their population being around in the valley at that time. Even from the period from 1951 to 1996, the Pandit community had their elected representatives from many constituencies like Kulgham and Devsar etc. and all these factors had nonetheless contributed to the political empowerment of the community. However, post migration, the community was scattered and there was not a single member to represent their demands.

"REVISITING THE KASHMIRI PANDIT EXODUS AND THE QUESTION OF RESETTLEMENT:THE ROAD AHEAD", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 12, page no.d672-d676, December-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2112379.pdf

"REVISITING THE KASHMIRI PANDIT EXODUS AND THE QUESTION OF RESETTLEMENT:THE ROAD AHEAD", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 12, page no. ppd672-d676, December-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2112379.pdf