Hello, you're very welcome to Longreads, a Jacobin podcast where we look in depth at political topics and thinkers.

My name is Daniel Finn and the features editor here at Jacobin, and I'll be presenting the show.

India is often referred to as the world's biggest democracy, but the rule of Narendra Modi and the BJP is called that status into question.

Modi is clamped down on political dissent and the rights of India's Muslim population, while presiding over a catastrophic public health crisis.

The sharpest forms of repression under Modi have taken place in Kashmir, but the Indian state has always displayed its most authoritarian characteristics.

The following report from the New York Times described the situation in Kashmir in August 2019.

It's the day Muslims normally gather to pray, but in recent weeks it's also become a day of protest.

There is only part solution. There is only part solution.

As protests break out across Kashmir, Indian officials repeat what has become a well-worn sound bite.

There has been no major law and order situation reported from across the valley, life and story returning to normal.

And the situation is returning back slowly to the normal.

But things here don't seem normal.

Our guest today for a discussion of Kashmir's past and present is Vanessa Chishty.

Vanessa teaches history at the OP Jindal Global University in Delhi.

What was the status of Kashmir under a British colonial rule?

Before I answer that question, I should begin by saying that the word Kashmir has been used over time to describe many different territorial geographical entities.

And for the purpose of our conversation whenever I say Kashmir, I mean the valley of Kashmir, which is currently under Indian control and is home to the movement for self-determination.

Now in the period of British colonial rule from the mid 19th century onwards, the Kashmir valley was part of the princely state of Jammu in Kashmir, which was created in the year 1846 when the British conquered Kashmir and handed it over to their ally, the Maharaja of Prambu.

Now at this time Kashmir assumed a great significance for the British in the context of a very intense imperial rivalry between Britain and Russia.

And the significance of Kashmir lay in its being strategically located between British and Russian styles of influence in central and South Asia.

Now unlike areas that were governed directly by the British Indian subcontinent, the princely states like Kashmir and others had native rulers and was subject to considerable indirect control by the colonial government.

And through the JNK state, the British were able to influence frontier politics without the risk or expense of governing the place directly.

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