08-04-2008, 10:08 PM
<b>'Kashmir Pandit' at the root of J&K's misery â I</b>
Powers that be in New Delhi should get credit for some meticulous planning to bring about a welcome realisation, perhaps unintentionally. The autocratic style of Vohra has shown to Jammuites how it feels to get gagged and crushed by brute force!.
CJ: Natteri Adigal , 2 hours ago Views:93 Comments:1
JAMMU IS clearly on the boil. With or without media coverage, which has been gagged, discerning people can make out what life would be in an area where the armed forces are given licence to bring order.
This is not something new in the Indian-controlled regions of the erstwhile principality of Kashmir, known as Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). While it is the turn of Jammuites to experience turmoil since a month, the other half, Kashmir valley, has been experiencing this hell since decades.
Agitations raging in the region were precipitated by outgoing J&K governor Gen (Retd) SK Sinha. He notionally transferred a small parcel of forest land to a Trust at the fag end of his tenure. Packed with bureaucrats and sycophants, the Trust is supposed to provide facilities to pilgrims from all parts of India thronging to a Hindu shrine in Kashmir. A lot more facilities than he purportedly intended to provide could have organised without the formal transfer. The gimmick was clearly unnecessary in the first place, but was obviously a strategy of intrigue that Machiavellis of New Delhi are noted for.
The move was apparently hatched by top brass at the Congress party headquarters to impress gullible electorate across the country. With elections round the corner, this was an easy way to appeal to religious sentiments in constituencies sympathetic to Saffron parties. These outfits adopt a hawkish stand, equating nationalism with Hinduism. Sinhaâs order, it was calculated, would grab some votes from Opposition, without having to achieve anything on the ground. The backlash however was of unpredicted magnitude.
The Trust happens to be packed with non-locals, who are barred from holding land in J&K. The state supposedly enjoys that special status and autonomy under the constitution of India. A vast majority of the J&K population have already been entertaining a grouse that New Delhi has been treating the territory as if it was its colony. And, not without basis.
With half a million troops standing mobilised for decades in an area with a total population of ten million, an undercurrent of resentment is inevitable. On top of frequent skirmishes and atrocities, resulting from the resentment, governors of the state were predominantly retired military bosses. Rather than acting as ceremonial heads, like in other states, Generals tend to be perceived as colonial representatives lording over âvanquishedâ natives of their sovereign. So, people predictably smelt in the move a sinister conspiracy to start de-jure colonisation of the âdisputed territoryâ.
The politicking raised a ruckus that led to the fall of a democratically elected government. The J&K government in place could at least claim to be a democratic outfit, whatever be the merits of the claim. The veteran bureaucrat NN Vohra, sent to replace SK Sinha, turned out to be a veritable viceroy of the âcolonyâ. In the absence of an elected government, he did not even have to pretend to govern democratically. Vohra did everything possible to stoke the fire and took actions that would potentially benefit the New Delhi masters in elections. His decision to abruptly withdraw the transfer order, triggered protests from Jammu area, predominantly inhabited by Hindus.
Powers that be in New Delhi should get credit for some meticulous planning to bring about a welcome realisation, perhaps unintentionally. The autocratic style of Vohra has shown to Jammuites how it feels to get gagged and crushed by brute force! Their closed-minded leadership was cheering New Delhi at the crackdown on their brethren in Kashmir valley all these years. These leaders were exhibiting some bizarre Indian nationalism â more jingoistic than mainlanders themselves â towards India about excesses!
The predominantly Muslim population of the principality was ruled by a comparatively fair Hindu king before getting divided between the two adversarial South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan. There was much better communal harmony in the state than other India/Pakistan provinces. Most of these were under religious fundamentalist â either Hindu or Muslim â rulers, who maltreated minorities. Thanks to the tactics of New Delhi, a bitter hatred has been cultivated between the communities â even worse than seen in other Indian states. Kashmir valley inhabitants view Jammuitesâ who demand scrapping of special constitutional status as collaborators in de-jure colonisation of the âdisputed territoryâ.
Ironically, the sad plight of Kashmir Hindus â particularly of Kashmir Pandits, the tiny minority of elite among them â has its roots in the megalomania of and betrayal by a coterie of former Indian Prime Minister of Kashmiri Pandit origin, Jawaharlal Nehru. The legacy of this coterie, entrenched in high echelons of New Delhi, is still haunting the community.
Politically, the Congress Party is shameless enough to perpetrate the dynasty of Nehru, which has cunningly adopted a Gandhi tag, that is more saleable among the gullible. Nehru systematically eliminated all likely contenders for leadership so as to anoint his daughter Indira to the throne.
Sycophants in the party even now consider members of the dynasty, irrespective of qualifications, competence or achievements, to have divine sanction to inherit the party as well as the âthroneâ. The bureaucracy is too stuffed with staunch loyalists of the dynasty.
The present bloodbath in the streets of Jammu, the largest town of the state, is reminiscent of 1952-53, which too was engineered by New Delhi. A grand betrayal by Jawaharlal Nehruâs cronies triggered the slide of what could have been the Switzerland of Asia, to the longest lasting battleground of the world. Fifty five years on, if the people of J&K Valley realise the futility of being loyal to an undependable entity, while letting down each other, Kashmir could still realise its potential.
Powers that be in New Delhi should get credit for some meticulous planning to bring about a welcome realisation, perhaps unintentionally. The autocratic style of Vohra has shown to Jammuites how it feels to get gagged and crushed by brute force!.
CJ: Natteri Adigal , 2 hours ago Views:93 Comments:1
JAMMU IS clearly on the boil. With or without media coverage, which has been gagged, discerning people can make out what life would be in an area where the armed forces are given licence to bring order.
This is not something new in the Indian-controlled regions of the erstwhile principality of Kashmir, known as Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). While it is the turn of Jammuites to experience turmoil since a month, the other half, Kashmir valley, has been experiencing this hell since decades.
Agitations raging in the region were precipitated by outgoing J&K governor Gen (Retd) SK Sinha. He notionally transferred a small parcel of forest land to a Trust at the fag end of his tenure. Packed with bureaucrats and sycophants, the Trust is supposed to provide facilities to pilgrims from all parts of India thronging to a Hindu shrine in Kashmir. A lot more facilities than he purportedly intended to provide could have organised without the formal transfer. The gimmick was clearly unnecessary in the first place, but was obviously a strategy of intrigue that Machiavellis of New Delhi are noted for.
The move was apparently hatched by top brass at the Congress party headquarters to impress gullible electorate across the country. With elections round the corner, this was an easy way to appeal to religious sentiments in constituencies sympathetic to Saffron parties. These outfits adopt a hawkish stand, equating nationalism with Hinduism. Sinhaâs order, it was calculated, would grab some votes from Opposition, without having to achieve anything on the ground. The backlash however was of unpredicted magnitude.
The Trust happens to be packed with non-locals, who are barred from holding land in J&K. The state supposedly enjoys that special status and autonomy under the constitution of India. A vast majority of the J&K population have already been entertaining a grouse that New Delhi has been treating the territory as if it was its colony. And, not without basis.
With half a million troops standing mobilised for decades in an area with a total population of ten million, an undercurrent of resentment is inevitable. On top of frequent skirmishes and atrocities, resulting from the resentment, governors of the state were predominantly retired military bosses. Rather than acting as ceremonial heads, like in other states, Generals tend to be perceived as colonial representatives lording over âvanquishedâ natives of their sovereign. So, people predictably smelt in the move a sinister conspiracy to start de-jure colonisation of the âdisputed territoryâ.
The politicking raised a ruckus that led to the fall of a democratically elected government. The J&K government in place could at least claim to be a democratic outfit, whatever be the merits of the claim. The veteran bureaucrat NN Vohra, sent to replace SK Sinha, turned out to be a veritable viceroy of the âcolonyâ. In the absence of an elected government, he did not even have to pretend to govern democratically. Vohra did everything possible to stoke the fire and took actions that would potentially benefit the New Delhi masters in elections. His decision to abruptly withdraw the transfer order, triggered protests from Jammu area, predominantly inhabited by Hindus.
Powers that be in New Delhi should get credit for some meticulous planning to bring about a welcome realisation, perhaps unintentionally. The autocratic style of Vohra has shown to Jammuites how it feels to get gagged and crushed by brute force! Their closed-minded leadership was cheering New Delhi at the crackdown on their brethren in Kashmir valley all these years. These leaders were exhibiting some bizarre Indian nationalism â more jingoistic than mainlanders themselves â towards India about excesses!
The predominantly Muslim population of the principality was ruled by a comparatively fair Hindu king before getting divided between the two adversarial South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan. There was much better communal harmony in the state than other India/Pakistan provinces. Most of these were under religious fundamentalist â either Hindu or Muslim â rulers, who maltreated minorities. Thanks to the tactics of New Delhi, a bitter hatred has been cultivated between the communities â even worse than seen in other Indian states. Kashmir valley inhabitants view Jammuitesâ who demand scrapping of special constitutional status as collaborators in de-jure colonisation of the âdisputed territoryâ.
Ironically, the sad plight of Kashmir Hindus â particularly of Kashmir Pandits, the tiny minority of elite among them â has its roots in the megalomania of and betrayal by a coterie of former Indian Prime Minister of Kashmiri Pandit origin, Jawaharlal Nehru. The legacy of this coterie, entrenched in high echelons of New Delhi, is still haunting the community.
Politically, the Congress Party is shameless enough to perpetrate the dynasty of Nehru, which has cunningly adopted a Gandhi tag, that is more saleable among the gullible. Nehru systematically eliminated all likely contenders for leadership so as to anoint his daughter Indira to the throne.
Sycophants in the party even now consider members of the dynasty, irrespective of qualifications, competence or achievements, to have divine sanction to inherit the party as well as the âthroneâ. The bureaucracy is too stuffed with staunch loyalists of the dynasty.
The present bloodbath in the streets of Jammu, the largest town of the state, is reminiscent of 1952-53, which too was engineered by New Delhi. A grand betrayal by Jawaharlal Nehruâs cronies triggered the slide of what could have been the Switzerland of Asia, to the longest lasting battleground of the world. Fifty five years on, if the people of J&K Valley realise the futility of being loyal to an undependable entity, while letting down each other, Kashmir could still realise its potential.