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Vaishnavi,an honest, truthful rebel, is no more
7/2/2012 12:38:19 AM
M.L. Kak

Jammu, July 1: If there can be a term like honest and clean rebel A.N.Vaishnavi is an epitome of it.A rebel in the sense that he would not watch injustice,repression,oppression like a mute spectator.
I was fortunate when I met him in Srinagar central Jail in June 1975.It was a meeting between one detainee and the other.He had been detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Government,headed by Sheikh Abdullah,who had allowed the extension of the emergency promulgation to Jammu and Kashmir.Vaishnavi's fault was that he was a volatite individual ready to fight injustice or any kind of raw deal.As a senior teacher, posted in Ladakh, he had raised a banner of revolt against those elements that were engaged in the conversion of the Buddhists into other religion.
I was a detainee from Haryana who managed to get transferred from Hisar Jail to Srinagar because of intervention of Sheikh Abdullah. Sheikh Abdullah had phoned the then Haryana Chief Minister, Bansi Lal, who had settled a personal score with me by putting me in jail, to set me free because of my being totally innocent. But Bansi Lal had refused to revoke the detention order and instead agreed to transfer me to Srinagar central jail.
When I dub Vaishnavi as an honest rebel I do so on the basis of my maiden experience with him. In the Srinagar central Jail we had been provided with a servant, an Army deserter from UP, who would cook food for five people huddled in a big room. One day the servant refused to obey the instructions of a warder and kept on watching a television programme.
The warder had lodged a complaint with the Jail superintendent who ordered flogging of the servant. The Army deserter, a tall and burly jat from UP, was tied with ropes and lashed. When Vaishnavi heard about it he lost his cool and protested loudly that sent shivers to the spine of the Jail authorities. The Jail superintendent requested me to persuade Vaishnavi to observe restraint. Before he could tone down his anger the servant was sent back to "our room.".
A.N.Vasihnavi was a simpleton. When he decided to contest the Assembly election in 1996 he was the only leader who refused a van from the Government. He turned down an offer for security cover. While political nincompoops enjoyed Government security and the car Vaishnavi was seen footing long distance.
Vaishnavi was a symbol of simple living and high thinking. Even as chief of All State Kashmir Pandit Conference for over two decades Vaishnavi neither misused his status nor tried to seek any personal aggrandisement.
Had he desired he would have received big favours from the successive state Governments. He had limited desires. He has been rightly described by his close asscociates as a political saint. Kashmir Pandits have more organisattions than a ny community all over the world has and majority of leaders of these organisations prefer to work on a higher plank. It is not their job to help a displaced family if its cash incentive and free ration have been stopped. Their aim is to fight for homeland and not for ration for the displaced people.
But Amar Nath Vaishnavi was of a different mould. He would not waste even a minute if some displaced people wanted his help in issuance of ration cards or certificates that could help the wards of the displaced families to get admission in professional colleges in Mumbai and other states in the country.
Vaishnavi's motto was eat to live and not live to eat. He was a man, rather a leader, of simple habits. He was down to earth a leader who was available to the unfortunate displaced people from Kashmir for 24 hours. He wore a smile but his heart bled with the misfortune of his community he loved and cared for.
Kashmiri displaced people have been rendered orphans with the demise of A.N.Vaishnavi.I believe that a community is lucky if it has a leader like Vaishnavi, who never bothered about his personal comforts but was always haunted by the problems of the community to which he belonged. He has been quite unfortunate because neither the successive state Governments nor the community of the displaced people recognised his selfless services by awarding him with some honour. May God rest his restless soul in peace.
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