The images coming out of India this month should alarm anyone who still believes in democracy as more than a slogan. In Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), thousands took to the streets demanding the restoration of statehood and Article 370. On 20th July, IIOJK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah led a massive protest in New Delhi demanding the immediate restoration of full statehood to IIOJK.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated that statehood is only the first step and that the struggle will continue until the region’s special constitutional status is also addressed. The Indian authorities deployed a heavy police presence and imposed stringent security restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to block the march.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and party president Farooq Abdullah stated that police barricaded key roads and actively stopped protesters from peacefully reaching their intended site at Jantar Mantar. In New Delhi, veteran climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and hundreds of students were detained at Jantar Mantar while protesting for Ladakh’s constitutional safeguards. In both places, the response was the same: batons, barricades, internet cuts, and mass arrests. This is not law and order. This is a pattern of suppression.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated that statehood is only the first step and that the struggle will continue until the region’s special constitutional status is also addressed.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian state has moved from managing dissent to criminalising it. Five years after 5 August 2019, when New Delhi unilaterally revoked Article 370 and downgraded IIOJK from a state to two federally ruled territories, Kashmiris were told to wait for “normalcy.” What they got instead was a security grid, press raids, and a political process designed in Delhi.
The authorities are suppressing peaceful demands for the promised restoration of statehood and democratic liberties. Protest marches in Srinagar, Baramulla and Kargil were blocked. Political leaders were placed under house arrest. Mobile internet was throttled in entire districts “as a precaution.” This is not about security. It is about silencing. When you cannot answer a political question, you ban the questioner.
The same script played out 800 km away in the heart of New Delhi. Sonam Wangchuk, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee known for education and climate work in Ladakh, led a peaceful march to demand Sixth Schedule protections for Ladakh. His crime? Asking the government to honour commitments made when Ladakh was carved out of IIOJK in 2019.
Police detained Wangchuk and over 120 supporters at Jantar Mantar, India’s designated protest site. Water cannons were used. Protesters were bused to unknown locations. The Delhi Police later called it “preventive action.” These two crackdowns cannot be separated from the broader governance and human rights crisis in India. International watchdogs have downgraded India’s status for three straight years.
The tools are now standardised – UAPA, sedition, internet shutdowns, and selective enforcement. From Kashmir to Manipur to university campuses, the state’s first response to protest is not dialogue but detention. The hallmark is the merger of party, state, and narrative. Media houses are being coerced to align with the ruling party. Academic institutions are purged. Protest sites are fenced. And a majoritarian ideology is enforced through law and mob.
When Sonam Wangchuk is dragged away, and Kashmiri students are booked for demanding statehood, we are watching that ideology in action – where the nation is defined by loyalty to the ruling party, not to the constitution. India’s internal repression has external costs. By refusing political space in IIOJK, New Delhi ensures that grievance will fester. By treating Ladakhi and Kashmiri demands as law and order problems, it guarantees that the next generation will see no stake in the Indian union.
A democracy that fears its own people cannot claim to lead the world. A government that jails climate activists while speaking of “Viksit Bharat” is speaking in two languages. Obviously, India under the watch of Modi is displaying systematic suppression of human rights, corruption of democratic norms, and a slide into majoritarian authoritarianism that must be condemned.
The writer is a freelance columnist.