I try and avoid going for meets, seminars, conferences on the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley and also the grim realities facing the Muslims in India. The ‘why’ to this is rather simplistic: everyone is well aware of the horrifying ground realities yet the State seems determined to implement the set of RSS agenda it’s been entrusted with… One gets to hear the same set of ‘experts’ who have nothing very offbeat to offer in terms of fighting the agenda or its implementation. With that in the background or foreground I find attending these meets not just very frustrating but also rather pointless.
I made an exception to this when on 4 July I did decide to attend the round table hosted here in New Delhi by the Institute of Social Sciences. The ‘why’ to breaking the norm is again rather simplistic: For one, the two main organizers of this meet - George Mathew and Ash Narain Roy - are genuinely concerned about the deteriorating condition in the Valley. Also, politicians like Manish Tewari and Yashwant Sinha were scheduled to be present, so thought one could get to hear the political perspective on the mess compounding as never before. And above all this, the invite carried a hazy ray of hope along the strain that there’d be focus on not just the present situation in Kashmir but also on ‘the way forward’.
In fact, all the speakers sounded worried about the disasters taking place in the Valley. Vocal was each one of them. And Sumit Chakravartty and Tapan Bose didn’t mince words, talking of the communal agenda at work which could even include bifurcating or trifurcating the state of J&K into three segments along religious lines …they also spoke of the havoc the Intelligence Agencies are doing, rather have been doing. In fact, Sumit Chakravartty also spoke of Afzal Guru - who had returned to the Valley, after getting disillusioned with Pakistan, yet he was entangled and used by the Intelligence agencies and then discarded , only to be hanged at the Tihar Jail, ‘to settle our collective consciousness!’
Though one was expecting the two politicians - Yashwant Sinha and Manish Tewari – to give their views or viewpoints on the way forward but both spoke briefly , as though still working out a strategy to reach out. In fact, I wonder what happened to the recommendations put forth by Yashwant Sinha. Remember, he had visited the Valley along with a small group of concerned citizens and had come up with a list of some very sound recommendations. If only they’d been implemented!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three day long visit to Israel when crisis is more than brewing in the Eastern sector, speaks volumes of the Right – Wing slants and also of the priority to purchase the latest weapons! To be used on us, in some form or the other.
By bypassing the Palestinians, India’s foreign policy stands out clear. No hazy hopes of standing with those who are victims of worst forms of aggression and horrors! Palestinians stand ruined because of Israeli policies…Israel has been wrecking havoc in that belt, yet we opt to hug them! Mind you, at this juncture when threat of a Chinese aggression looms large!
The joke doing the rounds is that China’s aggression on our eastern borders can be well dealt with rather too effortlessly by sending all possible gau rakshak and the vahini and private sena brigades! For one , with all the lynching and killings they have been indulging in , they would have become experts of how to settle the enemy! In the training sessions they are taught to target the enemy - the Muslamaan of the country.
Let the name of the enemy be changed! From Musalmaan to the Chinese! Also, stationed up there the gau rakshak brigades would be able to control the beef eaters of that belt!