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| It's unfortunate, elements in Kashmir creating a wedge between communities in Jammu | | News ANALYSIS-I | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 1: British India was partitioned in August 1947 on the basis of the pernicious two-nation theory and Pakistan came into being as an independent and sovereign Islamic republic. Simultaneously, the 562-odd princely states acceded to either the Indian Dominion or the Pakistani Dominion. Princely states were not part of the partition plan. They had only two choices - accession to India or accession to Pakistan - and they exercised their choice. It was hoped that the partition of the country and accession of the princely states would harmonize inter-communal relations and that the people professing different faiths would, instead of indulging in communal politics, focus their attention on democratic and economic issues taking into consideration the fact that religion is a personal matter or private affair.
One may or may not accept it but it is a fact that things have not changed in India to any appreciable extent. The truth is that communal politics continues to dot the Indian political scene at regular intervals, with our political class doing its best to pit one community against the other for the petty vote-bank politics. Sometimes it appears that India is heading for another communal partition. Things are bad in the North East where the Bangladeshis are working overtime to create trouble for India. They have succeeded in changing the demographic profile in the North East and West Bengal. The most disturbing aspect of the whole situation is that the mainstream political parties like the CPI-M of Prakash Karat, the CPI of A B Bardhan, the Congress and the Trinmool Congress of Mamta Bannerjee are giving the ill-intentioned Bangladeshis their overt and covert support in order to garner the minority votes. It appears that everything in the North East and West Bengal and in several other Indian states has been communalized, even granted legitimacy under the garb of secularism and democracy. It's no wonder then that certain elements are busy in creating conditions in these areas all aimed at creating schism among the communities and disintegrating India. No one had ever imagined that things would deteriorate so soon and the Indian political leadership would bungle to the extent it has bungled just for the sake of power and profit.
The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is no different. In fact, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is worse. Kashmir is a classical example indicating the unwillingness on the part of the establishment in New Delhi to contest those indulging in communal politics with a view to ensuring another communal partition of the country. One can catalogue here several instances to prove that the Indian political establishment has, instead of contesting the reasons behind the rise of secessionist and communal violence in the Kashmir Valley, pandered to communalism and separatism through legislation. Incorporation of Article 370 in the Indian Constitution in October 1949 was a classical example. It was this legislation that not only drove the state away from the national mainstream and accorded legitimacy to the politics of communalism, but also promoted fissiparous tendencies in the state. What happened in the Kashmir Valley after October 1947 is history. People know everything. The exodus of the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley and the emergence of a situation under which people belonging to a particular faith alone could live in Kashmir need to be viewed in this context. The miserable plight of the leftover about 50,000 Sikhs in the Valley and the possibility that they might quit Kashmir sooner than later also need to be viewed in the same context.
The Indian political establishment sowed the seeds of hatred in Kashmir; it promoted the politics of exclusion in the Valley; it refused to recognize the fact that bottom-line of politics in Kashmir is secession; and it never ever tried to promote politics in the Valley based on democratic and economic issues. The Indian political establishment is responsible for the prevailing state of affairs in the Kashmir Valley. Had it nipped the evil in the bud and integrated fully the Valley politically and constitutionally into India as is the case of other princely states, things in Kashmir today would have been somewhat different. The likes of Geelanis, the Mirwaizs, the Maliks, the Abdullahs, the Muftis, the Andrabis, the Salahuddins, to mention only a few, would not have dared to do and say what they have been doing and saying since years to ensure the segregation of Kashmir from India. No wonder then that the communal elements are now seeking to sharpen angularities between the communities in Jammu on purely religious considerations with a view to establishing Greater Kashmir comprising Kashmir Valley and the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh. In fact, certain communal elements in Kashmir have unleashed a no-holds-barred misinformation campaign in order to create an impression that all the people in the state, barring those inhabiting Kathua and Jammu districts and parts of Udhampur districts are all with those in Kashmir who have been carrying on secessionist movement in the Kashmir Valley. They have been trying to establish that "Jammu and Ladakh are a part of larger political movement centered around Kashmir. Only today an outrageous essay appeared in one Kashmir-based English language daily authored by Z G Muhammad. The essay is titled: Jammu Muslim, Kashmir narrative: Jammu and Ladakh are a part of larger political movement centered around Kashmir." (To be concluded) |
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