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| Exploiting religious sentiments for political or economic gains | | Omar's Intervention In NIC Meet | | Rustam
JAMMU, Sept 12: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on September 10, like many others, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, also spoke in the meeting of National Integration Council (NIC). The NIC is headed by AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The NIC met after three years in the absence of Sonia who perhaps is still unwell. The NIC was convened to enlist the support of all the political parties and all the chief ministers, plus a few high profile political leaders, in favour of the drafted "Communal Violence Bill" that was, the government said, designed to instill confidence among the "minorities". As expected, the Government failed in its game plan with several participants describing the proposed draft as anti-majority and against the very spirit of the Indian Constitution. The draft bill was also described as a deliberate move of the Congress-led UPA Government to encroach upon the powers of the states. In other words, several participants construed the draft bill as an onslaught on the federal character of the Indian polity. The cornered Prime Minister had to ate a humble pie and assure everyone in the meeting, including the opponents of the proposed bill, that his government would come out with a new draft that would be acceptable to everyone and the meeting ended.
As mentioned, Omar Abdullah also spoke in the meeting. He expressed his views on the multi-religious India as well as multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Jammu and Kashmir. He described Jammu and Kashmir as shining and an outstanding example of pluralism. Addressing the meeting, Omar reportedly said: "It needed to be understood that the root cause of communalism is not the presence of many religions in the country…It is only when the religious sentiments are exploited with economic or political motives which give rise to communalism…Communalism is a state of mind at a psychological level and communal conflict is its overt expression…Communal conflicts emerge only when there is a complete breakdown in the relations between the communities…Jammu and Kashmir is a pluralistic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic State and the society in the State has never been communally divided even when there were incidents of large scale communal violence in the rest of the country. The State has invariably remained unaffected…The onset of militancy in early 1990s saw the forced migration of large number of people belonging to one particular community from Kashmir Valley to Jammu…"
No sane person would disagree with Omar when he says that the multi-religious nation is not a curse and that the people belonging to different religious faiths can co-exist and share each other's joys and woes. Similarly, each and every sane person with a secular and inclusive outlook would agree with Omar when he condemns those who "exploit religion with political or economic motives" and asserts that it is such elements who communalize the society or who foment communal troubles for promoting vested interests. In fact, all well-meaning persons would be in complete accord with Omar when he would say that "communalism is a state of mind at a psychological level and communal conflict is its overt expression" and that communal conflicts emerge only when there is a complete breakdown in the relations between the communities".
However, none would endorse his views on Kashmir. Notwithstanding the fact that he bemoaned the exodus of the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley in the early 1990s, when secessionist and communal violence erupted in Kashmir and engulfed several other parts of the state. His assertions that the "society in the State has never been communally divided even when there were incidents of large scale communal violence in the rest of the country" and that "the State has invariably remained unaffected" were not convincing. Not convincing all the more because these were not based on facts.
Kashmir, for example, is one region in the country which has consistently witnessed erosion of secular and democratic values with the followers of a particular religion, nay certain persons belonging to a particular religious sect, that has been ruling the state and playing all the shots has done all that it could to communalize the Kashmiri society. And, it has been quite successful. It is hardly necessary to explain in detail the point that the followers of a particular religion and certain members belonging to a particular religious sect have cleansed the Valley of all or nearly all the non-Muslims and created a situation in Kashmir under which all other religious sects, which profess the same faith, have been rendered ineffective and unreal for all practical purposes. Such is the nature of oppression, persecution and contempt for certain sections. Everyone, barring the likes of Omar Abdullah who do all in the state what they oppose in such meetings as the NIC meet, is aware of the ground situation in Kashmir.
However, to say all this is not to convey an impression that the people of Jammu province also subscribe to the regressive and intolerant ideology. This is not the case. Jammu province is a shining example of peaceful co-existence. Jammu has seldom witnessed any communal conflict in the real sense of the term. In fact, Jammu province, unlike Kashmir, is one region in the entire country that has cheerfully welcomed and accommodated refugees of all varieties, including refugees from POJK, West Pakistan and from Kashmir (read displaced Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs). Not only his, a substantial chunk of rich and prosperous Kashmiri Muslims, politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen included, have not only constructed palatial houses in Jammu but has also been associated with several other socio-economic activities and there is no rancour. Yes, the Kashmiri Muslims had fled away from Jammu in 2008 but that was because of the negative and provocative attitude of a powerful section of Kashmiri Muslims (read Sunni Muslims) towards the Amarnath land issue or towards the religious sensitivities of the Hindus across the country.
Will Omar Abdullah redesign his formulations taking into account the well-known saying "charity begins at home". |
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