Synopsis
In Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building under Indian Occupation, historian Hafsa Kanjwal offers a critical examination of India’s colonial project in Jammu and Kashmir, focusing on the decade-long rule of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the second Prime Minister of the state, from 1953 to 1963. The book challenges the narrative propagated by the Indian government, often described as the world’s largest democracy, that Jammu and Kashmir—its only Muslim-majority state—is an “integral part of India.” Kanjwal argues that India’s control over Kashmir, a region disputed with Pakistan and recognized as the world’s most militarized zone, constitutes a colonial occupation that has persisted for over seventy-five years. By analyzing Bakshi’s state-building policies, Kanjwal reveals how India entrenched its authority in Kashmir through mechanisms that extended beyond overt military domination, employing what she terms the “politics of life” to normalize its rule. Drawing on an extensive array of sources—including bureaucratic documents, propaganda materials, memoirs, literary works, and oral interviews in English, Urdu, and Kashmiri—she interrogates the intentions, tensions, and unintended consequences of these policies, situating them within the broader context of India’s post-partition state formation.
Kanjwal’s analysis centers on how Bakshi’s regime, operating as a client government under India’s oversight, sought to integrate Kashmir’s Muslim-majority population into the Indian nation-state while suppressing demands for self-determination. She explores how state-building efforts, such as economic development, educational reforms, tourism promotion, cultural patronage, and media propaganda, were designed to foster “emotional integration” and create a sense of dependency on Indian governance. These initiatives aimed to shift Kashmiri sentiment in favor of India by improving living standards and projecting an image of progress and normalcy, both domestically and internationally. However, Kanjwal argues that these policies were fraught with contradictions, marked by inter-religious tensions, widespread corruption, and political repression. Rather than achieving genuine integration, Bakshi’s tenure created a “collaborator class” economically tied to Indian rule, while failing to quell the underlying desire for self-determination, as evidenced by mass mobilizations in the years following his rule, particularly after the 1963 Holy Relic Incident.
The book also challenges the binary of colonial versus postcolonial statehood, positing that India’s occupation of Kashmir reveals how postcolonial states can replicate colonial forms of governance. Kanjwal historicizes India’s control over Kashmir as a pivotal component of its nation-building project, rather than an aberration. She examines how policies under Bakshi, influenced by Nehruvian secularism and Soviet-style economic planning, were used to obscure the occupation’s colonial nature, presenting Kashmir’s integration as a triumph of Indian democracy. Yet, these efforts entrenched new hierarchies of power and domination, marginalizing Kashmiri aspirations for sovereignty. Kanjwal’s work draws on critical Kashmir studies to offer a decolonial perspective, emphasizing the role of Kashmiri client regimes in facilitating India’s control and highlighting the gendered and cultural dimensions of the occupation, such as stereotypes that dehumanize Kashmiri men and women to justify continued domination.
Ultimately, Colonizing Kashmir is a provocative critique of triumphalist narratives surrounding India’s state formation and the sovereignty claims of modern nation-states. Kanjwal urges readers to reconsider the liberatory assumptions of decolonization, arguing that India’s actions in Kashmir reflect a broader pattern of postcolonial states exercising colonial control over contested territories. The book’s meticulous research and lucid prose make it accessible to both academic and general audiences, offering fresh insights into the modalities of governance, the complexities of Kashmir’s modern history, and the ongoing struggle for self-determination. By focusing on the “politics of life,” Kanjwal illuminates the insidious ways in which power operates to maintain control, not only through coercion but also through seemingly benign policies of development and empowerment, making her work a significant contribution to scholarship on colonialism, state-building, and South Asian history.