Sir,
The demolition of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 revealed how insecure the Talibans felt in the presence of those glorious statues. A similar pathological psyche was demonstrated when the Town Municipal Officer of Lahore got a statue of goddess Lakshmi removed from the facade of the legendary Lakshmi building in Lahore and replaced it with the inscription “Allahu Akbar”. The leading architects of Pakistan denounced this action as it was purely an expression of the municipality engineer’s lowly and tasteless assessment of the historical and cultural icons of his country. Such incidents cast shadows on the greatness as well as relevance of institutions and ideologies that feel threatened from icons and statues.
Closer home, such underlying tendencies came forth when Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992. A more recent incident, albeit of a less grand scale, was the removal of ACC (AIIMS coordination committee) hoardings from the Jewel Chowk location and a simultaneous appearance of BJP’s thanksgiving banners celebrating the alleged sanction of AIIMS for Jammu. BJP should have let the ACC campaign die its own death by providing proper evidences of the approval of AIIMS for Jammu. Instead, by going into a damage control mode, taking out a Dhanyawad rally, erecting “AIIMS ke liye Dhanyawad” banners and clearing the site of ACC protest, BJP has only brought to surface its inane insecurity. The message for the stakeholders in party head office is clear – a dent has already been made, first by improper handling of the AIIMS issue and second by these hurried theatrics to prove to themselves that “all is well”.
Everybody has come to terms with the agitation been called off. BJP, because it could quell a first uprising against it in the region it considers its home turf, and has always taken for granted. ACC, because it could not ask for a better face saving in a campaign which was planned without much foresight. And, the Jammuites, not because they are not as strong as the Kashmiris, but because they are not as rich as Kashmiris and they cannot afford to keep their businesses shut for too long. However, a spark has already been ignited, and, all it needs to become an inferno is a bit of wind. And, looking at how the BJP-PDP has performed so far, it is clear that there will be no dearth of winds in the following years.
Yours etc….
Rajeev Nagotra
Tange Wali Gali
Kachi Chhawni
Jammu
Follow our WhatsApp channel