Separatist movements of India
Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India.[1][2] India is described as an ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e "Indestructible nation of destructible states" by its father of constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar[3] where a state or Union territory of India cannot secede from India by any means and the Central Government has more powers than the respective state governments and can forcefully change the names and boundaries of the states without their permission at any time when needed for self interest and for the maintenance of integrity.[4][5][6]
The Naxal-Maoist insurgency began in India with the Naxalbari uprising in 1967 in West Bengal. Later it also spread to the southern states of India. Currently, it is led by the Communist Party of India (Maoists) and are active in some areas of the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The areas where Naxals operate is known as the Red Corridor. Their support mainly lies with the tribal population of India who have often been neglected by the elected government.
The Khalistan movement in Punjab was active in the 1980s and early 1990s, but was suppressed and eventually died down.
Secessionist movements in Northeast India involve multiple armed separatist factions operating in India's northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as 23 km (14.3 mi) wide. Northeastern India consists of the seven states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Tensions existed between insurgents in these states and the central government as well as amongst their native indigenous people and migrants from other parts of India. Insurgency has seen rapid decline in recent years, with a 70% reduction in insurgency incidents and an 80% drop in civilian deaths in the Northeast in 2019 compared to 2013.[7] The 2014 Indian general election the Indian government claimed it had an 80% voter turnout in all northeastern states, the highest among all states of India. Indian authorities claim that this shows the faith of the northeastern people in Indian democracy.[8] Insurgency has largely become insignificant due to lack of local public support and the area of violence in the entire North East has shrunk primarily to an area which is the tri-junction between Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and north Nagaland.[9]
Jammu and Kashmir has long been wracked by the insurgency since 1989.[10][11] Although the failure of Indian governance and democracy lay at the root of the initial disaffection, Pakistan played an important role in converting the latter into a fully developed insurgency.[12][13] Some insurgent groups in Kashmir support complete independence, whereas others seek accession to Pakistan.[14][13] More explicitly, the roots of the insurgency are tied to a dispute over local autonomy.[15] Democratic development was limited in Kashmir until the late 1970s and by 1988 many of the democratic reforms provided by the Indian government had been reversed and non-violent channels for expressing discontent were limited and caused a dramatic increase in support for insurgents advocating violent secession from India.[15] In 1987, a disputed State election [16] which is widely perceived to have been rigged,[17][18][19] created a catalyst for the insurgency.[20] In 2019, the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked. Since then, the Indian military has intensified its counter-insurgency operations. Clashes in the first half of 2020 left 283 dead.[21] The 2019–2021 Jammu and Kashmir lockdown was a security lockdown and communications blackout that had been imposed throughout Jammu and Kashmir which lasted until February 2021,[22] with the goal of pre-emptively curbing unrest, violence and protests. Thousands of civilians, mostly young men, had and have been detained in the crackdown.[23][24][25] The Indian government had stated that the tough lockdown measures and substantially increased deployment of security forces had been aimed at curbing terrorism.[26] The revocation and subsequent lockdown drew condemnation from several countries, especially Pakistan.
India has introduced several laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts (AFSPA) to subdue insurgency in certain parts of the country. The law was first enforced in Manipur and later enforced in other insurgency-ridden north-eastern states. It was extended to most parts of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 after the outbreak of an armed insurgency in 1989. Each Act gives soldiers immunity in specified regions against prosecution under state government unless the Indian government gives prior sanction for such prosecution. The government maintains that the AFSPA is necessary to restore order in regions like Indian territories of Kashmir and Manipur.[27] The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".[28] On 31 March 2012, the UN asked India to revoke AFSPA saying it had no place in Indian democracy.[29]
Punjab[edit]
Khalistan movement[edit]
The Khalistan movement aims to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khālistān ('Land of the Khalsa'), in the Punjab region. The territorial definition of the proposed Khalistan consists of state of Punjab, India (including small parts of Haryana which were previously part of Punjab)[109] and sometimes also includes Punjab, Pakistan.[110][111]
Sikhs previously had a separate state in the 19th century (the Sikh Empire, led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh), which was invaded by the British. Calls for the recreation of a separate Sikh state began in the wake of the fall of the British Empire.[112] In 1940, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in a pamphlet titled "Khalistan".[113][114] With financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab – which has a Sikh-majority population – continuing through the 1970s and 1980s, and reaching its zenith in the late 1980s.
In June 1984, the Indian Government ordered a military operation, Operation Blue Star to clear Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar of militant Sikhs led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.[115] The military action in the temple complex was criticized by Sikhs worldwide, who interpreted it as an assault on the Sikh religion.[116] Five months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in an act of revenge by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.[115] Public outcry over Gandhi's death led to the killings of more than 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone in the ensuing 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[117] In the 1990s, the insurgency petered out,[118] and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, factional infighting, and disillusionment from the Sikh population.