Do you need to butcher a spirit in order to save it?

Do you need to butcher a spirit in order to save it?

Nikhil, I am much more in agony than led by any feeling of venom. I am feeling depressed and sick. Venom you said, No! I don’t think my thoughts and my stance are brewing any poison, poison if any, let it be used as an antidote to the general euphoria of the recent decision. Yes, I do certainly feel bitterly angered at what is happening and the way it has been unleashed on to us, on to them, as we have hardly thought of them as ours. Once you would have read this opinion, you might just as well despise me for I am questioning a move that you so vehemently support, but in fact, to me, it looks far more dangerous, immoral, unethical and importantly, a move that may permanently tragically alter the course of our history – be it constitutional, political and social. I agree on doing away with 370 but my concern lies on a much wider canvass – that of the immediate and long term fallouts and of the violence that may ensue. You just might as well think – here is another JNU, tukde gang fellow, that let this guy burn in hell and I will be okay with it as let me tell you, dear friend, my conscience is clear, pure and not compromised like the ones in power. I intend the least harm to my soldiers, the army personnel (putting them first in priority) as also my fellow citizens, my brothers and sisters, irrespective of their religions in this tension driven state. Let me also state that I have no hard feelings for Prasad and may be, the timing of my comment was just a little misplaced. Apologies for the same, Prasad, come over and we can go for a beer!  

Well, your point on abrogation – that it would always have been forceful is something I am unable to come to terms with. Very difficult to accept but yes, I am trying to cope up with that. It will take some time. For me, being a pacifist, I feel talking to all stakeholders and taking them in consideration should have been done. Right now, all the party members of all the top parties are under arrest and jailed. All communication systems and other services have been suspended. If one thinks ‘the people’ are important, shouldn’t there be a way to address their issues? Today is the fourth day of curfew. Imagine if you were there with your pregnant wife in your house seeking a doctor or your hospitalized mother, wouldn’t you feel outraged? Would you let this happen, let’s say, in Maharashtra if the Congress in power had jailed all BJP-Sena leaders? Is this a democracy? It’s rather a mockery of it under the guise of bringing peace and stability to the region. The rampant militarization, the sudden Tughlaqesque measure and to worsen matters, the lack of any dialogue is going to only aggravate the distrust Kashmiris feel about India. It is going to further alienate the people of the state. I was yesterday listening to Dr. Farooq Abdullah in tears who said this was not the India that they had subscribed to and this is a breach of trust. All this isn’t going to go well with the people there, I alarm you. 

Chetan said Kashmir is integral part of India. Ok, fair enough. But, isn’t it Indian under duress and whether it would like to belong to India or not, is something we need to look at. Shouldn’t the Kashmiri people given the choice to decide their own fate? Let them decide once and for all what they want. I mean logically speaking, if there is a joint family of 3 brothers and one wanting to move out, should he be put under gun point to stay together or we should just let him go? See, integral means “necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental.” In theory, why do we need Kashmir (with the Muslim separatists population, off course) to complete ourselves? Let them get f….d up by China or Pakistan. I think if we were to do a plebiscite there today, we would all know what the people really want and precisely for this same reason the Indian state and successive governments have been avoiding the plebiscite. They know very well that the plebiscite would point either to a separate state or towards Pakistan. However, keeping in mind our strategic interests, I think we shouldn’t do away with Kashmir. Thus, India should continue to possess Kashmir and if we want the land, we should rather accept the people (read Muslims) of the state as our own, and hence scrapping the article and treating them as equal, accepting them. Accepting the people would mean we embrace them with their differences. If we think of accepting them, letting them be amongst us, is that possible today? Let’s question the situation of our attitudes today vis-à-vis these people? How many Kashmiri people do we actually know? What do they eat? What literature they read? What do they really want? Do we have any idea about these things? What we know is that there is a Kashmiri dress à la Kashmir ki Kali, that Kashmir is a beautiful place full of gardens, apples and that there are lots of terrorists and they kill our army men. I don’t know anything more, what about you all? India needs to create a platform where we can feel mutual trust, a feeling of fraternity with people of Kashmir, which is not the case in my opinion.  

I was talking about the need for dialogues and the need to adopt them as our countrymen, something that has never happened as there is a profound sense of mistrust and suspicion on both sides, especially in Kashmiri people vis-à-vis the Indian state and vice versa too. Will any one of you meet a Kashmiri Muslim without a thought crossing your mind that he may have some terrorist links? Will any one of you let marry your sister and your brother to a Kashmiri Muslim family? Personally, I have been conditioned not to let that happen and I wonder you will agree with such an alliance. Deep down, we just want to own the land without caring about its occupants. And this is unfair. Let me give an analogy – very bad one, so be it… It’s unfortunate and unfair to impregnate forcefully a woman, take away her belongings, and abandon her along with her child, isn’t it? If one wishes to rape, so be it, let’s rape and then, at least in all humility, let’s accept the rape, own the child, accept the woman, irrespective of her caste, class, religion and her belongings as they are.

Nikhil raised three questions. First one, on whether the article will pass the litmus test. Hopefully, it will not as the previous judgment (2016) had said that the decision of the government flies in face of a 2016 judgment by a two-judge apex court Bench of (Retired) Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, which had held that the provision had over the years acquired permanent space in the Constitution and could not be abrogated now. (https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/over-to-the-law-next-fight-over-article-370-could-move-to-supreme-court-119080501722_1.html) 

My cynical self says it will just be a formality. I have that much confidence now after having seen the bills past in the very recent past. Our dispensation has men everywhere, CBI, the courts, the RBI’s and wherever one needs to pull one’s strings. In case if all this doesn’t work, the raw, sheer muscle power of Ram Lakhan is such that it knows no bounds. In case, if a Supreme Court judge doesn’t comply by, that wouldn’t worry anyone but the judge himself for his life. (There was a Justice Loya who disappeared in thin air) So, by public opinion and by general consensus, as long as our leaders say they are doing something for the (Hindu) nation, let’s support all their injustices, massacres, rapes, moves like demonetization (which by the way has now stopped corruption and terrorism). The tragedy is under the name of nation and religion, all is permitted - murders, lynching, rapes, custodial deaths and now, curbing of basic civil rights. And, we are allowing this to happen because it is the party of liberals, of great parliamentarians like Advani and Vajpayee. 

Your second point concerns normalcy. Do you think, Nikhil, if you are put to house arrest even without letting you know the reason for the same, how would you feel? Chetan said no one wants a gunman outside his house every day and if there are 5 lakh boots without any clarification, it is going to infuriate anyone who is put to such an ordeal. Such a move, I repeat, is preparing a situation that is going to be removed from anything than ‘normal’. It is preparing all of us for a new normal – a Syria or Palastine like situation, which will be mass deployment of army personnel, possibly (hopefully not) a permanent feature of that state. Once the curfew goes sooner or later, it is going to be extremely tricky and volatile and I hope, I pray peace prevails then. Now, you may argue that such a move (communication services suspended and curfew) is for the benefit and safety of the society there. But, this is not acceptable as even during times of serious war (Kargil war), there was no suspension of any communication networks. The locking up of the whole state is unimaginable and not permissible. And yes, Pakistan will deal this blow in no easy way. I do give a good laugh at jokes pointed to Imran Khan but his statement yesterday was very strong – ‘Hope for the best and prepare for the worst’.    

Chetan said, story on ground of Kashmir is way different. It gives me the impression that one visit to Kashmir and the interaction at the airport have made him understand all the problems of the youth of Kashmir. Don’t feel bad but if such visits can be revealing, my brother, there have been so many official interlocutors to the state and yet, no solutions for the disgruntled youth. What you need in Kashmir are cinema halls, shopping malls, entertainment, yes, we want consumerism at its very best, in all parts of the country! You will have all this, dear friend, only if we get back to a livable normal life and that is going to be a very distant future, thanks to what happened on Monday. The same thing applies to purchasing of land. I mean, how many Kashmiri Pandits have gone back or are willing to go back in a situation as tense as it is today. And if the Pandits, the original residents, are not going back, what will I and Prasad do there? I feel so sorry for the Pandits who have been driven out of their homes. This is extremely sad, condemnable in the strongest words and unfortunate. Chetan suggested me to think of the Hindus and I do acknowledge their misery and I think we should think of ways of bringing them close to their homes. The present move is just doing that but, the way I see it, unless we have a peaceful Kashmir, the ghar vapasi for the Pandits will be a remote possibility.

Obviously, the present move caters to the majoritarian, Hindu voters and Amogh pointed that very rightly. The move is without an iota of doubt going to help them in Maharashtra. Patlya had a valid point that elections happen so occasionally that doing anything can be viewed as a ‘political’ move and that you have to do something at some point to solve the issue. The BJP are master stroke players when it comes to these things (like defecting MLAs in Goa, Karnataka, bringing in Presidents rule where required, going to bed with anyone that may help them to be in power, etc) and I always hope that their opposition can learn things from them to build something constructive. Patlya, BJP is very cunning, it doesn’t do anything without thinking of its application in electoral politics. Demonitisation (UP elections), Former PM Manmohan is meeting Pakistan Prime minister and eating Biryani! (I think it was Gujrat or Rajasthan, not sure), the apolitical interviews with Akshay Kumar, the TV apps, Pulwama attacks and hence, majboot sarkaar – before 2019 elections (they haven’t yet explained the intelligence failure by the way, neither the goofups relating to Rafale, but all that is ok as they are serving the nation). I would not say that they are doing the current move keeping in mind Maharashtra, but the benefit they are going to accrue is palpable from the responses we got on Whatsapp. 

Then, Nikhil gave a twisted argument is favour of the move saying every Indian should read article 370, its history. Yes, I agree on that front but the argument cannot be used to support a move in action. Let me explain. Does a couple make a baby and then, deliberate on it? If you are an Investment banker, do you first invest and then, think of different possibilities available to you and tell the stake holders, now that I have invested your money, let’s read in detail of the options that were available to us. The deliberations part should come much before a move is implemented, something that is missing again. And, it is for this reason that we need area experts, defense analysts, civil society participants to discuss and take a line of action. 

Chetan says it’s very easy to sit and talk like intellectuals. Had it not been for you, dear Chetan, I would have been offended. But let me ask you, what do you mean when you say ‘sit and talk’? Is it a kind of translation from Marathi which suggests (lok nusti charcha kartat, wayfal badbad aste..) that intellectuals have nothing else to do? Forget intellectuals, that’s too big a word. But, isn’t it our primary duty as a citizen to check the moves of our chosen leaders, ask them what they are doing and why? Or does citizenship comes only once in 5 years when we vote our favorite party and put our pictures on FB? Nikhil did answer this by saying we should question the motives of our leaders. But, is that even possible today? A letter written by film makers for an appeal to end hate crimes is shot with a sedition case! Isn’t this funny? A dark comedy is in place…