“Reclaiming India” – excerpts
Great article by Tarun Vijay in today’s TOI: Reclaiming India.
*** Excerpts below (emphasis mine) ***
“None should say Omar is not allowed in Jammu. Let him come, listen and speak. Like any other Indian should feel free to visit Kashmir or any other part of the nation. He is welcome to visit my home even if he denies me a piece of land in Kashmir. Why should a few words uttered by him make me change my Indian-ness? If he spoke in Parliament as a Muslim, asserting his Islamic identity, let denial of land to Hindus be his Islam and my Hinduness must keep my nation as a free democracy where difference of opinion is a natural phenomenon unlike Islamic countries.
…But he must stop to think why he can own a bungalow in Delhi or Bangalore and at the same time deny that privilege to a fellow Indian in Kashmir? Kashmiri Muslim leaders would like to enjoy the fruits and liberties of a Hindu majority democracy but vehemently deny that to Hindus in their area of influence. Why?
When they are in a minority they crave and get special privileges. But once a majority, every single right to be at par is refused to other minorities.
…Kashmir is predominantly Sunni and Wahabi. Hence the intolerance that denies even the basic features of Kashmiriyat.
And see what the de-Indianised intellectuals wrote on the front pages in Delhi’s newspapers: “All over a piece of land!” Really?
Then why are the Indian soldiers defending a barren piece of dead snow in Siachen? Or what’s that piece of cloth known as the Tricolor? Is it worth dying for?
…In fact the whole movement is a revolt of Tricolour people against unpatriotic politics on Kashmir. It’s an effort to reclaim India in a region where the central leaders and regional parties have abandoned the idea of pan-Indian nationalism and geographical integration. India has been reducing every day in the valley and the seculars keep on counting their votes and encouraging separatists at the cost of an Indian identity.
After all, the Amarnath Shrine Board was created on the recommendation of the Nitish Sengupta Committee formed by the state government in 1996 when more than 250 Amarnath pilgrims died in a snowstorm. That made the state government realize that facilities are inadequate and hence a committee was formed under the chairmanship of retired senior IAS officer Sengupta. The government accepted the recommendations of the committee a year later and decided to create a separate board on the pattern of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board through an act passed by the Farooq Abdullah goverment in 2000. The Secretary, Tourism Depaetment, was appointed CEO of the board.
Initially, toilets and other facilities were added but they proved inadequate as neither the office of the shrine board was set up nor any staff worth its name was appointed. It was only when Gen. SK Sinha took over as Governor in 2003 and hence became Chairman of the Shrine Board that the office was established with Arun Kumar, IAS, as its full-time CEO. Kumar changed the entire gamut and pilgrims were provided with livable camping facilities.
Earlier, mahants and local interest groups were taking home all the offerings of the shrine. Now the shrine board regulated the income, spending it on providing more facilities to pilgrims and regularizing the fare structure regarding pony hiring, collies, camping sites, toilets and emergency medical help. The chief mahant was given huge compensation and other Muslim helpers were employed in the board. Kumar also introduced bacterial toilets using the latest Japanese technology which was environment-friendly and turned night soil into usable fertilizer for local farmers. Prior to this, concrete toilets had proved a colossal waste as they would get choked and the entire structure needed to be demolished. But this had proved profitable for the local contractors; hence, when the new green technology was introduced the contractors’ lobby protested and the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayed, halted the work in 2005. As a result of it, the Shrine Board approached the High Court which gave a stay order and the work continued.
It’s noteworthy that during the while that the Secretary, Tourism was acting as the CEO of the Shrine Board, all the toilets and camping facilities were constructed on government land and nobody objected. It was only when the bribe channels were stopped for the politicians’ protégés that they objected to government land being used for pilgrims.
Hence, after the stay was obtained from the High Court, the Shrine Board asked the state government in 2005 to regularise use of government land by formally transferring a few plots of land to the board en route to the Amarnath shrine. It took three years to take a decision and finally on May 26 this year, the state cabinet passed a proposal diverting (not selling or leasing) 38 hectares of land near Baltal to the Shrine Board on a temporary basis at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. The Minister of Forest, under whose jurisdiction the land was diverted for the Shrine Board’s use, was a member of the PDP headed by Mufti.
After the order was signed, word spread that a huge amount of land had been given to Hindus and now they would come and outnumber Muslims. It’s a plot against Kashmiri Muslims, it was argued. An anarchical agitation began with Mufti, the Hurriyat and Omar Abdullah uniting to deprive Hindu pilgrims a camping facility.
…The same government has given hundreds of acres of land to Baba Gulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri and to the Islamic University in Pampore. None objected. The all-encompassing nature of Hindus is taken for granted as is their timidity.
…Kashmir is the land of Shiva, the greatest place of the Shaivite school of Hindu dharma. At every mile there was a Shiva temple, but most Hindu temples have been razed in the valley during the Islamic Jihad. More than 70 lakh pilgrims visit Vaishno Devi and Amarnath every year and contribute enormously to the economy of the state. Yet, Hindus have always been looked down upon and driven out of their homes and hearth. This is the Kashmiriyat of the valley’s politicians and patriotism of their protectors in Delhi.
The Kashmiri leaders, so possessive about a hundred acres, never raise their voice to take back 78,114 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir under the illegal possession of Pakistan. Thousands of square km of land to Pakistan can be tolerated, but “not an inch” to Hindus.
…Jammu’s agitation to reclaim India in J&K has to be supported by every patriotic Indian. It’s a pain of Indian nationhood and not just of the Jammu region. Failing this movement will fail India.
*** Excerpts End ***
Related Posts:
No land for the Yatris – Government capitulates
How many “Hindus†would it take to change the demography of Kashmir?
and finally: Cry of the Valley – *must read*
what else can a half kashmiri (omar) say ?
Now Hindus all over the World must consider making the Amarnath and Vaishno Devi yatras their supreme duty. Let there be relentless movement in the region. That one of the most peaceable communities in the country has risen, let not the momentum die.
I shall desist the temptation to say- “sanatan dharma khatre mein hai” for it is never ever is in such grave danger but that there might be consequences in their own land, on their own houses that will impact their own livelihood- nay their very existence will be at stake- is a message that needs to go out to the Muslim community in Kashmir.
What will this achieve? One the SASB will become economically strong, a micro-economy that will provide economic opportunity to the region- regardless of the practicing religion of the populace. It will make Kashmiri Muslims think really hard if they would then want to kill the bird that lays the proverbial golden egg of employment and livelihood.
One un-intended consequence of Clean/ Green technology introduction is this case is that it has curtailed opportunities for mass scale corruption- kudos to the officers of the IAS who demonstrated the will to go the distance and do it.
*** COMMENT EDITED ***
this omar is not a muslim. why the hell stupid kashmiri muslims listen and follow him.
*** NOTE by MODERATOR ***
Omar: Please watch your language…Abusive comments diminish the force of arguments. Please also read my Comments Policy
A short exceprt from Islamism shakes Kashmir – S. Chaulia, Asia Times:
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S. Chaulia is a researcher on international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University, New York.
*** COMMENT EDITED ***
Dear Shantanu,
Attached is an article that has appeared on Rediff by a B S Raghavan. My comments are in italics and the emphasis is mine. The language used is very erudite but is pseudo-emotive and the underlying tone and subtext is not only arrogant but subversive. Note the unique almost simultaneous usage of Wodehouse-ian and Victorian – in the emotive phrase –“concatenation of depressing events, unfolding like a Greek tragedy†…..
I am amazed by the supposition of Mr Raghavan on what the role of a Governor ought to be. This is a very arrogant and dangerous view of Governance albeit couched in a language that attempts to mask the arrogance very cleverly.
Mr Raghavan seems to believe that a State Governor’s role/image is that of an animal at pasture not that of a conscience keeper. If this is not arrogance then I am willing to give the writer of this piece the benefit of the doubt of ignorance.
Without further ado….
“Jammu is not for burning- B S Raghavan”, August 07, 2008
…
The BJP, in any event, has a much greater stake than any other party, in not letting the kind of venom spouted by the spokespersons of the Samiti while appearing on national television news channels sticking to it as well. The BJP must realise that it is sure to antagonise all the right-thinking people by the readiness and the aggressive tone with which its votaries have been justifying the agitation. ( Presumably, all the right thinking people believe that the agitation or expression of outrage is not justified/ un constitutional?? Or is it simply the case that in your pseudo-secular view- Hindu Expression = Spouting Venom/ Rabid Rantings and Muslim Expression = Expressing Opinion, Mr Raghavan?)
The revoltingly rabid rantings by the Samiti members, to the extent of demanding that the Muslims of the Valley better migrate to Pakistan and stay there, has all the potential, if allowed to continue unchecked, of putting the Amarnath yatris at grave risk, if not setting India ablaze in a communal conflagration. The yatris need to be urgently saved from their friends. (Pray who are these friends- Local Kashmiris? BJP insinuators? Lt. Gen Sinha? Or is Mr Raghavan trying overt obfuscation? Or simply does not know who it is he is writing about, himself?)
Compared to the incendiary declamations by the so-called protagonists of Amarnath yatris, the representatives of the Muslim outfits of J&K, whether main or fringe, have shown commendable moderation, recalling how for more than a 100 years Kashmiris have treated the yatris with amity and respect, and given them protection and all the needed facilities, and how even now they are willing to extend the same hospitality. (This is outrageous- after the massacre initiated from 1989, with hardly any Kashmiri Pandits now remaining in the valley and with the recent venom spewed out by Shri Omar Abdullah in Parliament, do you expect us to believe that the Islamists in Kashmir whose entire ideology is based on purging Hindus off Kashmir are “willing to extend the same hospitality†to the Yatris? And what do you mean by “hospitality†– the land that the yatris tread on is sovereign Indian territory not a foreign land where “hospitality†has to be extended. It is a fundamental right of the citizens of India. Or is it the case that in your pseudo-secular mind Kashmir is foreign land?)
…
The Samiti people, however, vociferously deny there being any such blockade or their having given a call for it, but blockade or not, trucks carrying goods are held up in their hundreds on the only highway from the valley to the outside world. The visuals are there for all to see, and there is no reason why television news channels and media reports should indulge in misrepresentation. (You seem to have forgotten the visuals of the last 20 years, Mr Raghavan or has the sustained 20 year old suffering of the Kashmiri Pandits given you a “selective numbness of eyesightâ€. A blockade of six weeks inspires you to use such language- I shall be interested in your choice of vocabulary (if and) when I might get the privilege of reading your article on the last 20 years of outrage perpetrated on the Kashmiri Pandits.)
…
The whole concatenation of depressing events, unfolding like a Greek tragedy for all of six weeks, inflicting such human suffering and leading to loss of precious lives, and draining away the energy of the people and governments along wasteful and destructive channels could have easily been avoided if only both the state and central governments at the highest levels had had the leadership, imagination and sensitivity to gauge the delicate nature of the crisis at hand and taken effective measures to address it at the first sign of trouble. (How would you articulate the mass killing and obliteration of Hindus from the Kashmir valley for the last 20 years? Were those events equally “ delicateâ€, “wasteful†and “destructive†enough to your taste?)
It is puzzling that the Congress-led UPA government should have forgotten the shining examples set by Mahatma Gandhi who never hesitated to meet a problem head on whether it was Noakhali, or Kolkata or Delhi, or by Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shatri and Indira Gandhi who were prompt to visit any disturbed part of the country personally and apply the healing touch by their consoling presence. (Really Interesting take- on personality politics. Hypothesizing from a historic analogy is the last refuge of the failing theologian- Mr Raghavan. Are you one? Now, if in the modern day India, it were to emerge that this so called “healing touch approach†did not deliver the goods, then what diagnosis would Mr Raghavan make? I would hazard a guess along lines such as “Society no longer has respect for its leaders?†Or “today’s leaders are not like the Mahatma or Panditji or Shastriji?†Or would Mr Raghavan be so cynical as to say that “these days all these politicians do is make a one day dash- with huge media machinery in tow- say a few soothing words and go back to conducting their business of the day†)
*******
Mr Raghavan, I respectfully submit a view that in expressing your “puzzlement†over the ineptitude/ blind sighted-ness of the UPA Government, you are trying- albeit very weakly and unsuccessfully – to give your thoughts and views in this article a sense of balance. In the absence of the last paragraph- and in my view, an ill advised paragraph- this article would have appeared too one-sided a pillorying of the SASB and the Hindu uprising in J&K and rather condescending about what the role of a Governor ought to be.
But take heart, the last paragraph also might get you some brownie points in the secular-ist media. If that’s what you want.
Sadly, we (and I use the we as a representative of a young, educated, confident and successful Indian) see through it- quite clearly. I am not pleased or overjoyed by the events of the last six weeks- in fact I am saddened, and my current thoughts are on the lines of “why did anyone not see the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus for so long?†“ How did India fail them so spectacularly and for so long?†“How could we avoid such a situation to manifest itself again in the next 20 years?- How should Indian polity engage with Kashmiri Indian citizenry and the Indian citizenry at large in the next few months? How should the really delicate message to the Islamists- the perpetrators of outrage against the Kashmiri Hindus- to reflect on their actions of the last 20 years be articulated? I believe, we do not yet have an answer but know what the answer ought not to be- The answer ought not to be retaliation neither is it in radically affirmative action to “redress†the balance. The answer lies somewhere is a process of common healing and reconciling to the facts- the facts are not pleasant. This is the delicate-ness of the situation.
Dear Si,
There is nothing special in the obfuscation of thoughts by the puerile thinking bigot. Many of these authors of articles try to be as objectively obfuscating as possible as otherwise they will not get their articles published by this psuedo secular Hindu bashing Christian Evangilist media.
The supposed to be Gandhian methods can work with an educated and selfrespecting human being, not the Islamic type. They may be educated in the best of the universities, articulate, very well read but the fundamental flaw is that their thinking is low down and extremely puerile as they cannot accept a thought which is different from them.
If these are the type of people these authors are direcing their arguments toward, sadly it will be like talking to deaf man.
The speciousm arguments of how the yatris are treated by the people of the valley fall short of stupidity as then a meagre 38 acres for TEMPROARY, shelters should be a moot point of conflagration for these Kasmiris
The underlying factor was that these Kashmiris bet on the fact that as usual the Jammuites will fall for these type of rhetoric and stand aside as the Hindus are belittled, and when they ascertained that it was not falling in line with that type of thinking they went back to the shrill talk of all secularism, ji’s like Gandhi, Nehru etc.
When even that is not working they talk of communalim of the BJP. What secularism by these Pseudos!!!
The seculrists are now understanding that all their english and bluster of British secularism and Ameican possible noble prizes are withering away in front of them as the ASB action committee cares two figs for all this big talk.
The Hindus want action not noble peace prizes and tall rememberances by people. They do not want to become history to be discussed in a few years by the National Geographic!!
Regards,
vck
A joke with a subtle message.
***
An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.
A representative from India began: ‘Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.
When he struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath.’
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.’
The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren’t there then.’
The Indian representative smiled and said, ‘And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’
***
And they say Kashmir
belongs to them………………………………………..
Many of you will find this article interesting and thought-provoking:
Kashmir is the Defining Issue of Indian Identity by Dr Subramaniam Swamy