Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 2, 2008
Ignited Hindu men, women and children, who
sustained a 61-day agitation for the restoration of land allotted to create
temporary facilities for pilgrims to Sri Amarnath shrine, and the very thought
of a blockade-that-never-was had Jammu & Kashmir's majority population
in visible sweat. Fear showed in the eyes and voices of 'ordinary' traders
fearing for the remuneration from their annual fruit harvest, and the hysterical
pitch of politicians trying to consolidate votes in anticipation of an Assembly
election unlikely to be held in the near future, hardly improved matters.
For Muslims, that is. Hindus from neighbouring
States rushed to support the cause of the pilgrims; three persons sacrificed
their lives to the cause, even as the so-called 'popular' Kashmiri leaders
agitated against the land transfer from the safety of Delhi's television studios.
The Centre should call their bluff by telling them to ask their own benign
community to take care of their security needs; this will introduce a dose
of realism into the public discourse.
The unexpected murder of Swami Laxmanananda
Saraswati on Janmashtami in Orissa brought Hindu rage to the fore in several
districts of the State, and showed effete politicians everywhere that Hindus
can no longer be expected to remain mute in the face of grim provocation.
And if Jammu was no small irritant to the hitherto patient Hindu community,
then Kandhmal was pure aggravation. The subsequent trade union style bandh
by Christian organisations in Delhi, the unwarranted interference of the Vatican
and the Italian Government, only underscored the organised nature of Christian
offensive against Hindu dharma. For let there no be misunderstanding -- a
monotheistic religion can expand only by annihilating native faiths everywhere.
In these circumstances, the Centre would do
well to allot the 99 acres of forest land at Baltal to Hindu pilgrims in perpetuity,
and not only for two months during the annual yatra. The land must be given
free, not leased at the exorbitant Rs 2.5 crore initially mooted, not because
Hindus are unwilling to pay, but because Kashmir is the abode of Rishi Kashyap,
protector of gods and people, and Shiv, the special god of the Himalayan range.
Sri Amarnath Shrine Board can be asked to
erect permanent pilgrim facilities at the site, to be used when pilgrims come.
For the rest of the year, the place is uninhabitable, but there is little
sense in making huge investments every year. More pertinently, while the yatra
may be seasonal, Hindus are not a nomadic (banjara) community whose tents
and poles will be uprooted every season.
As for the Muslim-dominated Valley, it is
time to call the bluff of Kashmiriyat and end the mindless appeasement. If
a minimal demand for pilgrim facilities can trigger 'passions' in the Valley,
this means Kashmiriyat was only the total banishment of Hindu culture from
the public arena. There was never a composite culture -- the so-called Sufi
Nund Rishi was always backed by Muslim political power, and Hindus sought
reconciliation at whatever price it could be achieved. That era of 'apat-dharma'
(dharma in times of distress) is now being brought to a close by self-motivated
men and women in vast swathes of the nation.
Threats of a backlash in the Valley must be
treated with the contempt they deserve. The shameless advocacy of separatism
by some rootless writers has not cut any ice anywhere. If at all, the sight
of Jinnah's posters and the Pakistani flag being waved with impunity by the
azadi-walas, while suffering Hindus raised the Tiranga in Jammu, has inflamed
Hindu sentiment nation-wide. Reports of the Indian Army refusing to confront
Tricolour-waving crowds in Jammu suggest deep unhappiness with the way politicians
have conducted themselves on the issue.
The mysterious murder of Sheikh Abdul Aziz
of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference while leading a mob towards Muzaffarabad
in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir suggests all is not well in the separatist camp
and that it is time to stand firm. National Security Adviser MK Narayanan
has said the death was not caused by police firing (Aziz was shot in the back),
and is possibly due to rivalries in the separatist camp.
Muslim politicians, including Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Omar Abdullah, Sajjad Lone and Mehbooba Mufti,
are vying for the status of the 'most fundamentalist' leader. Geelani openly
advocates merger with Pakistan, while the so-called 'moderates' speak of 'independence'.
The moribund UN Military Observers Group has been revived, and its attitude
shows that India needs to urgently talk to Russia and China about curtailing
the Western colonial agenda pursued through the United Nations.
The Congress is clueless where to go. Its
fairly decent Chief Minister made mistakes after being betrayed by Mehbooba
Mufti, one of the most venomous public figures in the country, and lost both
his Government and control over the issue. In the violence that followed,
the party's former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma nearly lost his
life, though his vehicle was torched. The Congress's leaders, as also Hindu
workers of the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party, in Jammu
joined hands with the Sangharsh Samiti, a fact whose significance cannot have
been lost on the parties concerned.
Finally, a word is in order about the role
of women in the current agitation. In Jammu, young and old Hindu women came
out in support -- the Reuters photograph of an ethereal eight-year-old clasping
a naked sword is certainly the movement's most enduring image.
The presence of women on the battlefield is
a very Hindu phenomenon. Centuries ago, Alexander's historians noted with
astonishment the presence of Hindu women grabbing the shields or feet of Greek
soldiers to frustrate their movements. Centuries later, the British were amazed
to see tribal women standing beside Birsa Munda's men and loading rifles for
the men to fire.
This was not the case in traditional Islam.
Hence the presence of Muslim women in Srinagar, covered head to toe, shouting
"Raghda! Raghda!" (Crush! Crush!) and stamping the ground beneath
their feet to indicate the trampling of Mother India, cannot be condoned.
Muslims who want to live as orthodox Muslims must keep their women out of
the war zone. As for the Government of India, it cannot project pusillanimity
as chivalry -- the women should have been rounded up and released miles away
-- a long walk home would have sobered them all.
