Jammu Wants Regime Change

Ashok Malik - It is tempting to compare the Hindu protests in Jammu to the Ayodhya movement. Certainly, anybody who saw the television images of impassioned activists jumping into the Tawi river in an attempt to enter Jammu town, cordoned off by the Army, would have recalled the inspirational kar seva of 1990. Determined foot-soldiers of Ram made their way to Ayodhya, even though the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government had converted the city into a garrison.

On the face of it, little has changed. The mood at the all-party meeting called by the Prime Minister was still broadly adversarial to Hindu agitation. A variety of regional parties, most of whom don’t have a ghost of a presence in Jammu & Kashmir, made familiar noises. The undercurrent was clear: Jammu is the villain, Kashmir the victim.

The media is still as uninformed and instinctually hostile as it was at the height of the Ayodhya unrest. The Jammu violence is a reaction to hardline Muslim elements in Kashmir refusing to allow even temporary shelters for Hindu pilgrims travelling to the Amarnath shrine. Yet, the media saw that phenomenon as “Kashmiri mass sentiment”. The Jammu agitation is, on the other hand, “religious” and “communal”.

Despite this backdrop, there are substantial differences in the evolution of the Ayodhya and Jammu movements, and in the political response to them. For a start, there is this manufactured belief that the uprising in Jammu has been masterminded by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, an entity to which almost mythical powers are now ascribed. The liberal intelligentsia is refusing to acknowledge that strong Hindu emotions can exist even outside organised politics.

In truth, Jammu represents a genuine people’s movement. The throng led the way and the BJP and representatives of the Congress and other local parties simply got pulled in. The intensity of the anger over the denial of what were seen as fundamental religious and social rights at Amarnath was too powerful to have been generated by politicians.

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement offered a contrast. The VHP and the BJP — depending on where you stand — educated and informed or instigated and urged Hindus towards the “ocular insult”, to use Mr LK Advani’s phrase. In Jammu, the people became the vanguard.

Second, in assessing the political fallout of Jammu, both national parties — the Congress and the BJP — are haunted by the Ayodhya experience. The Congress was relatively subdued at the all-party meeting. Secular grandstanding of the Arjun Singh variety was studiously avoided even though, ironically, it has been standard party protocol for most of the UPA’s term.

The Congress was singed by the Ayodhya movement, dramatically losing support among the Hindu middles classes. It has no desire to relive that nightmare. Further, it is selling the nuclear deal with America as an investment for India’s strategic and economic future. This is, essentially, an appeal to mainstream/Hindu India. Already defensive on terrorism, the party cannot afford to be seen as insensitive to Jammu.

While such a strategy is true for sections of the Congress, it does not, admittedly, define the entire party. In that sense, the BJP is unambiguous. Its unqualified sympathy lies with the Jammu cause. As Mr Arun Jaitley put it, the “Jammu psyche” will now require equal attention. It can no more be pushed aside by the permanently-aggrieved “Kashmir psyche”.

Yet, the BJP itself is uncertain about the possible implications of the Jammu mood. It realises the all-India potential. The denial of shelter to Hindu pilgrims trekking to a cave that, at an altitude of 13,500 feet, is close to half the way up to Everest, has touched a raw nerve. When married to the disquiet over a confused policy on terrorism and on combating the sources of jihad, economic worries and general disarray in governance, it can become a potent electoral weapon.

So why isn’t the BJP jumping into the fray? There are two reasons. One, it has to identify the appropriate, credible messenger, the mass leader whose interventions or public statements on Jammu and Amarnath and ability to link these to the larger context carry resonance. Two, it has to fine-tune the message. The BJP can only make Jammu a national campaign if it outlines a specific, practicable set of political goals.

The confusion and cleavage that followed December 6, 1992, cannot be repeated. The BJP dropped the temple issue, arguing it had made its point about Hindu impatience. The VHP saw the construction of the Ram Mandir as the non-negotiable and immediate objective. The misgivings that resulted still divide the Sangh family.

In Jammu, what is the ultimate objective of the consortium of 35 organisations that has taken on the guns and bayonets? The BJP needs to appreciate and nuance the emotionalism and convert it into an achievable manifesto.

While the wish list cannot be over-ambitious, neither can it be limited to just allowing pilgrims right to rest in pre-fab shelters en route to the Amarnath shrine, or even guaranteeing autonomy to Hindu temples in Kashmir. The social contract between Jammu and the establishment in Srinagar has to be redrawn.

For too long have the timeservers and opportunists who pass off for political leaders in the Valley pretended that the Kashmiri prejudice is free of religion. The Abdullah family is, of course, a classic example, but the PDP is not far behind. It is no surprise that Mr Omar Abdullah’s theatrical sermon in Parliament on July 22 impressed nobody other than gushing television interviewers.

Consider the plight of Jammu. Assembly seats are frozen in the State as the census and delimitation processes have not been concluded. The accretion in Jammu’s population — not least because of the close to half-a-million Hindu refugees from the Valley — is not being allowed to register as electoral leverage.

Jammu’s residents are children of a lesser god. Sikhs have been prominent among the recent protesters. They are largely descendants of the 30,000 Partition refugees who fled Pakistan and settled in Jammu. Today, the community is 100,000 strong. It can vote in parliamentary elections but has no State domicile rights — it cannot access higher education quotas, cannot buy property, cannot elect an MLA.

Contrast this with the integration of Muslim refugees from Xinjiang and Tibet who arrived in Srinagar in the 1950s, after the annexation of their homelands by Communist China. The discrepancy is there for all to see. It needs to be rectified, and Jammu’s liberty institutionalised. This calls for more than just pro forma steps on Amarnath.

For any comments, queries or feedback, kindly mail us at pioneerletters@yahoo.co.in

 

Source: The Pioneer

URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit3%2Etxt&counter_img=3

The Media and Amarnath Shrine Land Imbroglio

Judging from the attention—or lack of it—given by the media to the disturbances in Srinagar over the issue of forest land being given—and now withdrawn—to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, the question arises whether the media has enough adequate staff to go deeper into such issues.

The media’s duty doesn’t end with reporting riots. Why did the riots take place in the first instance? Not many newspapers have taken the trouble to provide the background. But, as expected, The Hindu (July 1) has done the job with an excellent article by Praveen Swami. According to him “for Shri Syed Ali Shah Geelani and his Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, the anti-Shrine Board protests are crucible in which piety and xenophobic paranoia can be forged into a programme of resistance to India”. It is Geelani’s argument that India is trying to turn the Muslims of Kashmir into a minority. The same arguments has even been made by a senior Congress leader Ghulam Rasool Kar in the Urdu-language paper Khidmat. But it is also necessary to remember, as Francois Gautier pointed out in an article in The Indian Express (July 1) that “four lakh Kashmiri Hindus have been forced by death, terror and violence, to flee the Valley of their ancestors in one of the biggest ethnic cleansing in human history.” Syed Geelani obviously does not want to be reminded of it.

Praveen Swami makes two important points: “one, of the arguments against the land use rights granted to the Amarnath Shrine Board stand on firm empirical foundations” and two, “nor is it clear just why putting up pre-fabricated restrooms for pilgrims (in the area allotted) will increase environmental threat”.

Gautier, who, incidentally has been a long-time India expert has his own points to make. One is that “millions of devotees have flocked to Amarnath over the centuries and Muslims from Kashmir should show them generosity because in India, although Muslims have been a minority since the beginning, Hindus have always respected the religion of Islam.” And the other is that “if only Kashmiri Muslims would allow Sufism to make a comeback in the Valley, would permit the spirit of bhakti, of devotion, of tolerance… it could not only save Kashmir, allow the return of their four lakh Hindu brothers and sisters but it might help Islam to regenerate itself”. Some hope! The Indian Express said that the reasons for taking back the land given to the Shrine Board showed “the communal overtones of the issue” and the utter indifference of the government to public welfare.

Deccan Herald (July 1) felt that the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir “have done damage to the cause of communal harmony in the state and helped anti-national elements to fish in troubled waters”. Many news papers have expressed their disapproval of bandhs and the violence unleashed on such occasions.

The Tribune has a solution. In a strong editorial it wrote: (June 27): “Whenever the call for a bandh is made, those who give it should be made accountable for the loss they cause to the economy. This is perhaps the only way in which the menace can be tackled.” What is disturbing is a point raised by Francois Gautier concerning the BBC reportage on Amarnath. Write Gautier: “Reports of the BBC on Amarnath always speak about Indian-administered Kashmir never giving the full picture of Hindus being forced to flee the Valley nor the sacredness of this ancient pilgrimage for all Hindus.” If the BBC correspondent is Delhi-based he must be sharply pulled up. If he is a Pakistan-based correspondent sent to Srinagar to cover the riots, then the Government of India must lodge a strong protest with the BBC in London. In any event the British High Commissioner in Delhi must be told in strong terms that referring to Kashmir as “Indian-administered” is not acceptable. The Government either does not listen to the BBC coverage of the Srinagar riots or is too dumb.

Which makes an editorial in The Hindu (July 1) particularly significant. It says: “The party that leads the United Progressive Alliance government is in a state or moral and political confusion… The Congress has absolutely no idea where it is going… It has resorted to political adventurism. The government it heads has no answer to the spectre of double-digit inflation…. The mishandling of the Amarnath Shrine Land affair has set-off a wave of communal hate and tension in Jammu and Kashmir…. We now have the spectacle of a government that promised transparency and enacted a quite radical Right to Information Act making decisions on key policy issues behind closed door in away that lacks straight-forwardness. A party that promised a secular and forward-looking alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party is now embroiled in manoeuvres that are as short-sighted as they are deficient in political logic. The Congress might be able to keep the UPA government afloat for a while by cutting a deal with ex-adversaries, but the cost of such expediency will be extremely high.”

Coming as are these comments from The Hindu they show in what a deplorable state the Congress has fallen.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has strongly criticised the Gujarat police for pursuing criminal proceeding against a distinguished sociologist, Ashish Nandy for an article he had written for a national newspaper entitled “Blame the Middle Class”. The Inspector of the Satellite Police Station, Ahmedabad had issued a summons to Shri Nandy. A Vacation Bench consisting of Justices Altamas Kabir and G.S. Singhvi ordered the cancellation of the summons. Justice Kabir told Counsel for Gujarat, Hemantika Wahi: “There is no ground for harassing a journalist. Let him live in peace. You (Gujarat Government) are prosecuting this man for his article. If a journalist cannot write, then who else will? I have read the article and I find nothing objectionable. He (petitioner) is 71 years old and is a soft target for you.” And Justice Singhvi said: “People coming from the land of Mahatma Gandhi have become so intolerant that they can’t even tolerate an article.” And the Bench said: “Any further summons issued against Shri Nandy in future relating to the case in future will stand quashed”. There is such a thing as Freedom of the Press which all administrations will do well to observe. Harassing journalist is not the best way to run a state. If there is no freedom to criticise a state, what is the media for?

And as Justice Kabir rightly pointed out: “If a journalist cannot write, then who else will?” These words must be written in letters of gold and exhibited in all government offices, just as they do pictures of Mahatma Gandhi or that of the Prime Minster.

 

Source: Organiser

URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=246&page=34

Amarnath Pilgrims Return with Tales of Terror

DHARAMSHALA: Even as the controversy over the allotment of land to Amarnath Shrine Board by the Jammu and Kashmir Government refuses to die, the pilgrims to the famous shrine have returned with tales of terror with the Jammu & Kashmir Police being a mute spectator.

A mob attacked the pilgrims at Baltal on July 1 and their vehicles damaged, while the Jammu & Kashmir Police stood as a mute spectator to this terror, pilgrims Ravikant Dogra, Sanjay Sharma and Suresh Rana said at a press conference here.

“We had darshan of the ice lingum in the holy cave on June 29 and returned to Baltal on June 30 morning but were not allowed to proceed to Srinagar by the Jammu & Kashmir police,” they alleged.

The following day a huge mob beat up pilgrims and damaged at least 25 vehicles and forced pilgrims to raise “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans, while the state police personnel did nothing, they alleged.

Besides, they alleged, the pilgrims were charged Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per person for getting shelter in a tent near the cave on June 29.

A bottle of water was sold to them at Rs 46 and 250 ml milk bottle at Rs.40 with no official of the state government present to redress their grievances, they added.

Meanwhile, VHP spokesman Ravi Shankar has demanded the sacking of Ghulam Nabi Azad Government, saying that the security of the entire journey to the cave should be handed over to the Army and para military forces.

Following the tales of terror narrated by the pilgrims the Jammu and Kashmir Police should be removed from both Phalgam and Baltal tracks, he added.

The VHP leader also criticised the Azad Government for succumbing under militant pressure and reverting its earlier decision on the allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board.

—UNI  [July 6, 2008]

 

Source: Organiser

URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=246&page=11