Reclaiming the Lost Paradise: The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act and India’s New Historical Narrative on Kashmir

Abstract

Historical narratives and collective memory are relevant to claims regarding community, territory, and identity related to the Kashmir conflict. They have been central in shaping India's national imaginary and mobilizing support for New Delhi's policies in the region. The article analyzes how the topos of "paradise on earth" has informed the trajectories of Indian state narratives on Kashmir transforming, under the Modi government, into a call to action to recover and reclaim the lost paradise. The new discursive direction has been underpinned by a renewed interest in the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits-the Brahmin community native to the Kashmir valley-whose collective identity is deeply rooted in the history and socio-cultural distinctiveness of the region. The article thus situates the renewed political and public interest in the story of the Pandits' flight from Kashmir within a broader narrative of the state underlying the current phase of India's Kashmir policy. In this way, the article provides a perspective on how the trajectory of the Indian government's historical narratives about the region has informed the dynamics of conflict, occupation, and violence in the Kashmir Valley.