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| R-Day brings to fore contradictions between Jammu and Kashmir | | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 27: The Republic Day once gain brought to the fore glaring contradictions between the state's different regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. While the Republic Day celebrations in Jammu and Ladakh were a massive affair, with the people participating in the celebrations with great enthusiasm and in large numbers, In Kashmir, it was merely a formality. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was out of compulsion that the state government organized functions at district headquarters and a few other places in Kashmir, where the people's participation was almost nil or in which only a handful of government officials participate. It was a constitutional obligation and, hence, the state government had no other option but to organize Republic Dar functions, of course. All symbolic and without any fervour.
However, to say all this is not to suggest that the Kashmiri people had never been in favour of hoisting the national flag or joining the Republic Day celebrations. The fact is that the "mainstream" Kashmiri leaders have at no point of time during all these years of the application of the Indian Constitution did anything whatever in order to inspire or motivate the Kashmiri Muslims to become part of the national mainstream. On the contrary, they have all long held them aloof and created confusion in their mind about the very status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Right since 1947, when the state acceded to India as per the constitutional law on the subject, the Kashmiri leaders have been questioning the Centre-state relations and seeking to convince the Kashmiri Muslims that their political fate has yet to be decided. And, they have been quite successful.
One can catalogue here hundreds and hundreds of instances to show that the Kashmiri leaders have systematically raised a high wall between the people of Kashmir and the rest of the country. Their objective was, and continues to be, to create doubt in the minds of the Kashmiri Muslims about the nature of the Indian State and convince them that the Indian political system was, and continues to be, anti-Kashmiri Muslims. All the Kashmiri leaders, without any exception, instead of taking recourse to competitive secularism, took, and continue to take, recourse to competitive communalism and competitive separatism and the result of the kind of politics they indulged in and continue to indulge in even today, has been the rise of a situation in Kashmir that doesn't induce or motivate or inspire the Kashmiri Muslims to venture out of their houses to join the Independence Day celebrations or the Republic Day celebrations. The situation is one of fear - fear that they would be submerged in the tide of Indian nationalism, fear that their identity would be eroded if they become part of the national mainstream, fear that their joining the national mainstream would mean demographic changes in Kashmir and so on.
It's not just the Kashmiri leadership that has tried its best to hold the Kashmiri Muslims aloof and create a feeling of hatred between the latter and the rest of the countrymen. New Delhi, too, has considerably contributed to the process. Rather, it is New Delhi that is more responsible for the prevailing state of affairs in Kashmir. New Delhi has seldom taken action against the Kashmiri leaders who played foul and created wedge between the state and New Delhi. On the contrary, New Delhi has all along sided with and defended those in Kashmir who question the state's accession to India, promote communalism and separatism, shield terrorists and subversives and eulogize unruly elements as "peaceful and innocent civilians." It is hardly necessary to refer to what New Delhi has systematically done to drive the people of Kashmir away, as what it has done thus far is not a secret. Everything is in public domain. However, it would be only appropriate to refer here to the latest example. The case in point is the assertion of New Delhi that hoisting of national flag in Srinagar's Lal Chowk would be a sin; would create law and order problem; would complicate further the situation in Kashmir; would promote divisive politics; and what not.
Hence, don't blame the Kashmiri Muslims. Blame New Delhi and the Kashmiri leaders who are part of the establishment. New Delhi cannot go on like this. It has to take a clear stand on Kashmir. The existing policy is suicidal both for the country and the people of Kashmir. As for Jammu and Ladakh, there is no problem. No one in the state can shake their faith in India. They were Indian in the past, they are Indian today and they shall remain Indian tomorrow as well. Their problem is different: New Delhi's failure to integrate them fully into India. |
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