Jitendra Dixit’s Valley of Red Snow chronicles the making of ‘New Kashmir’

Jitendra Dixit’s Valley of RedSnow chronicles the making of ‘New Kashmir’ Valley of Red Snow: Kashmir Beyond 370 looks at the developments in the Kashmir Valley post the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution and the bifurcation of the state. Authored by the senior broadcast journalist Jitendra Dixit, the book was recently launched at the Mumbai Press Club by veteran film-maker and activist AshokePandit and the Press Club’schairman Gurbir Singh,who was part of the three members’ fact-finding committee appointed by the Press Council of India to investigate the complaints of atrocities againstKashmiri journalists.

On 5 August 2019, Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which gave Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) special status, was abrogated. J&K became a union territory. The Ladakh region was separated and made an independent union territory. These landmark decisions in the history of Kashmir were preceded by a series of political and social events over the seven decades since Independence. What forces led to the abrogation? What were its consequences on the peopleof J&K? What was their reaction to it? What does the future hold?

Valley of Red Snow seeks to answerthese questions and also presentsan unprejudiced, non-judgemental and comprehensive story of how Kashmir is changing after one of the biggestgovernment decisions in the historyof independent India.

This book narrates the events from the yearspreceding the historicdecisions, and the immediate situation in Kashmir at the time of the abrogation and presents the voices of various stakeholders in the Valleywith extensive interviews. It chronicles the momentous eventsof the Valley in the last decadeas witnessed by the authorand offers insightson ‘New Kashmir’. There is a comprehensive chapter on KashmiriPandits which enunciates their hopes, aspirations, expectations and fears. The author reached out to various sets of Kashmiri Pandits varying from those staying in refugee camps at Jammu,those resettled in government coloniesin Kashmir Valley,and those who have relocatedto other parts of India as well as those who didn’tleave the Valley during the 1990’s exodus.

Published by Rupa Publications India, this is one of the first books to narrate the developments in Kashmir afterthe decisions of August 2019.

Jitendra Dixit, the authorof the book is the West India editor of ABP Networkand specializes in reporting on conflicts and calamities. He has filed ground reports of every momentous event in the Valley during the past decade which includes the 2014 assemblyelections, the formationof the PDP-BJP government, the Pulwama attackand the abrogation of Article 370. Valley of Red Snow ishis fourth book.