Reasi tensions have a geo-economic context

Reasi's rise from an unknown, obscure landlocked location in Jammu to a geo-economic hot spot should be understood from two contexts: geo-strategic connectivity and mineral resources.

- VENUS UPADHAYAYA

The third tenure of the Modi government from the first day itself was faced with rising tensions in the Jammu region. There were fresh incidents in Reasi, Kathua, while the threats in Doda and Poonch continued from before.

Today Narendra Modi is not just the head of a political coalition and a political party. He’s an institutional head representing India 2024—this means that it’s not the Modi government that’s targeted, there’s something in the possibilities and the opportunities of India 2024 that’s targeted.

When I was a child, we had a relative working on a dam project in Reasi. We spent a few days with the family in the summers enjoying peaches and picturesque locations. That was then the possibility of Reasi dam—scenic locations and peaches. Look at how locally contained were these opportunities. Tourism was extremely local, peaches were consumed locally and the dam was providing some employment and accommodation to its employees and irrigation and hydropower to a society which was then predominantly agricultural.

While my nostalgia of that visit lives on, India 2024 has no connection with it. India 2024 is defined by global ambitions, economic resurgence and goals for midcentury and the land-locked Reasi has a big role to play in that. It’s these geo-economic ambitions of India that are therefore under attack.

Collective ambitions and goals are massive forces and the rise of an economic demography like India is not a small possibility in the geopolitical arena. Its ripple effect will be felt around the world—in fact it’s already being heard. Now in this context, let us look at Reasi afresh.

REASI’S RISE