The real meaning of Secularism, Liberty, Equality and Democracy in Kashmir Valley
- In Current Affairs
- 06:53 PM, Jul 28, 2016
- Anupama Handoo
Mohtarma Shazia,
Not sure if you are feeling Indian enough today or not. I don't even know whether you are holidaying, studying or working in an Indian city or are you holed up in a hartal town in the valley cursing the Indian administration for yet another alleged failure. What I know and truly believe is that you are alive, safe, literate, possibly well off and healthy because you chose to make something of your life. Your parents chose for you, schooling in a convent school and higher education in an esteemed institution. Surely, you were not given a reward of Rs. 150 to throw stones at security forces. Neither were you forced to wear an abayah and burqa and recite contorted version of the holy book instead of science, political science and history. In short you have led a privileged life much better than those about whom you are chest beating.
I am writing to you as you quoted the preamble of the Indian Constitution. It's a standing joke these days that Kashmiris from the J&K Valley are happy to stone pelt, drown, shoot and chase anyone remotely Indian (or representing India), especially the Security Forces, but start reciting the Indian Constitution as soon as there is any retaliation. It's funny really because you either live or die by the constitution or you reject it completely. You don't choose to have an education and the medical care, being saved from floods, getting IASs, running a travel agency, selling apples, and carpets and handicrafts in Bangalore and not choose election process, living peacefully with other communities, separation of state and religion, paying taxes and allowing free movement of people in India. You see, the Indian Constitution has a sanctity and it is difficult to treat it like a ‘pick n choose’ travel package, “want this, don't want that”. So let me try and explain how it works as you have twisted the argument to suit your point.
SECULARISM is about allowing all religions equality under law and not give anyone a preferential treatment because of their faith. This has a tenuous link with the beef controversy; as if it is somehow mandatory in a particular religion to eat beef. And that mandatory direction has somehow been prevented by the law passed in that particular state. Please enlighten me if there is such a prescription in the Holy book. Selective secularism is when 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits get thrown out of the land of their ancestors, culture and livelihoods because ‘yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-mustafa’.
DEMOCRACY is about being able to say what you want, do what you want, where you want. So if you want to create ruckus in JNU you are pretty much allowed to do it. ‘Desh ke tukde’ is not something we Indians take very kindly, so we protested against people like Kanhaiya Kumar, Hardik Patel and Umar Khalid especially when they were being portrayed as heroes. Incidentally, the right to protest is duly enshrined in the constitution, so don’t be upset that we nationalists took an exception. Law took its course and all three are now free men. Mind you, right to protest does not mean that crowds of thousands can overpower police personnel, stone them, drown them, blow them up with grenades and the Security forces have to lie down as human carpets. That is the wrong interpretation of the constitution my friend!
LIBERTY: Where do I start? I am reading your post in the National daily, and watching vile Kashmiri separatists spewing venom on all news channels. Are you saying your liberty is being crushed because your folks have called for a hartal and probably the telecom guys can't make it to their jobs and restore your internet? It makes me laugh as liberty was: being able to watch movies, wear what we wanted, travel unescorted, appear on regional TV and radio channels, go on picnics, choose noble careers and speak your mind. Oh wait, that liberty was taken away 26 years ago and replaced by abayas, madrassas and militancy.
EQUALITY: I would like to understand the evidence behind your assessment that right wing Hindus have some kind of privilege in India. This rhetoric makes no sense as jobs, careers, schools, universities, courts, police, doctors don't ask for your RSS credentials. Was your son denied a university place in Rajasthan because he wasn't affiliated to RSS? Reckless remarks like this create misinformation and mistrust and encourage gullible youth to pick up stones and grenades. Do you know what inequality sounds like? It rings menacingly from mosques and howls: ‘Kashmir mein agar rehna hai, Allah hoo Akbar kehna hai’.
FRATERNITY: The press and the intelligentsia of the whole country is standing right beside you and sharing the pain of those who were sprayed with pellet guns. Yes, many got injured and permanently disfigured… this is a tragedy. But the bigger tragedy is the plight of little kids who are carrying the resentment and hatred of their parents and are indoctrinated to kill, maim and destroy at such a young age. What are these kids fighting for may I ask? Education? career? Food? Medicines? Money? No! For some strange utopia called Azadi. To be ruled by dictatorship and live in inhuman conditions as in Syria. Is that why Rs.150 were given to each child to act as human shields so that terrorists could kill the police personnel?
You talk about fraternity my friend? Is the life of these policemen not precious? Their old mothers, young wives and little children don't feel the pain of a dead, disabled, disfigured jawans. Fraternity was when Kashmiri Pandit kids played cricket with their Muslim brothers. Then one brother called the other on the pretext of playing cricket and shot him dead. Other brothers raped a nurse, cut her breasts and sawed her on a saw machine. Other brothers shot a scared man inside a rice drum in the attic. Fraternity my friend was lost when thousands of men marched up the streets shouting ‘we want Pakistan without the men but with the women'.
Presence of additional security personnel in Kashmir is not a matter of choice for the Indian government. It is there to implement the constitution that you so eloquently quoted. They are there to control mobs who have been programmed to self destruct, burn schools and libraries, religious places, historic places, force sharia law, behead those who dissent, and terrorise those who don't support them. Is that not what is happening in countries ruled by mob, all around the world? Why Anantnag, the land of innumerable springs now Islamabad, Shankaracharya hill now koh-e-sulaiman, Kausar Naag Vishnu paad now a masjid. Please don't shut your eyes to obvious Islamization of the valley. We already see black ISIS flags after Friday prayers… is that the future you aspire for these young kids? The job of the police is to impose law and order, The Central Reserve and JK Police force is doing just that. For peace to prevail people need to give peace a chance.
Not sure if you're feeling Indian enough by now… but please be assured an Indian jawan is protecting you and your family, come what may.
This letter is a rebuttal to Shazia Bakshi's Face Book post that got published in many Indian newspapers. We reproduce her FB Post here:
I am a Kashmiri .
Now that must come as a surprise to many , most of all me ,as all my life I have strived and endeavoured to be an Indian. Taken pride infact in being one.Not any more .
Today the criteria for being one has been changed by the collective conscience of the majority of residents of the mainland and the government that heads it. There is a good Indian today and then a traitor.
A good Indian by default is a born Hindu, non beef (meat)eating,khaki shorts clad,holier than thou saint who never questions the actions or the thought process of the state-whatever they may be.Who worships the ground the Prime Minister walks on , never mind the fact that he is more out of the country than in.Who gives a carte blanche to the armed forces for any and every action they take.He is more patriotic than the next man , never mind that he always has a 'juggad' for paying the taxes,if at all,which may actually benefit the country.A good Indian definitely must possess the mob mentality of going with the Dikat of the State and whatever the present government believes to be true .
Unfortunately this does not go with my belief of being an Indian. My belief was based on a bigger picture laid out by the founding fathers of my country-My constitution,my Preamble - and let me repeat it to all what you have conveniently forgotten:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought , expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.
Secular (?)-the Prime Minister and his good men have no time to give lip service or attend an Iftaar thrown by the President . A man is lynched because the mob thinks there is beef in his fridge.
Democratic (??) what a laugh ...ask this to a Hardik Patel,Kanhaiya or an Umar.
Justice(?) -30 young kids shot in last two days in the madness of killing a FaceBook Terroriser (not a terrorist)...the guy was yet to fire a bullet ! Think about it logically , every young angry man with a radical idea and a fan following does not need to be eliminated !
Liberty(?) - yes ,I need to post this from a city which has been under curfew for the past 4 days , with net available in select pockets.
Equality(?) - Anybody but a right wing Hindu ,in today's India is a child of a lesser God .
Fraternity(?) -My fellow Indians you do not even acknowledge let alone protest against the carnage and terror that has been unleashed on my state and people.
Because we people choose to voice our dissent on this treatment we cease to become Indian in your eyes.Because we refuse to die ,you by turning your face away from us try to obliterate our existence.Because we mourn a Burhan Wani and other 2 lakh young ones disappeared or slaughtered,we automatically become terrorists.We mourn the idea of an India lost, a promise from none other than the first Prime Minister of the country yet to be fulfilled , we become anti nationals. Because we demand a retribution for a Kunan Poshpora or a Tufail Mattoo 2010 we become ''Pakistani". Because we ask for revocation of AFSPA we become in your eyes an enemy of the state . Because we refuse to be the present day Indians like you,we become Kashmiris .
So I have become a Kashmiri today .
I refuse to be like you .
I have a conscience and I have a voice.
You may stifle me , but you will never silence me.
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people-not even the Indian Flag.
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