The nature and history of sell-out politics in Jammu and Kashmir from 1846 to 1939

Sell out is to give up or yield in exchange for value or payment.¹ One who betrays a cause for personal progress?² It is a common natural sneering expression for the compromising of a personal integrity, morality, authenticity or Ideology in exchange for individual gains. In political movement a “sell out’’ is a person or group claims to adhere to one ideology, only to fallow these claims up with actions contradicting them, such as a revolutionary group claiming to fight for a particular cause but failing to continue this upon obtaining power.³ In Jammu and Kashmir sell-out has an elongated history. Sell-out in Kashmir started in 1846 when “The deal of worth Seventy Five lakhs was signed, accepted and Patented by none other than British. The state of Jammu and Kashmir was created by the British Raj for its own imperial ends. From then Sell-out remains a continuous process in Kashmir. It made people slaves of their rulers from then.⁴