Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Oct 17: Terming intellectual intolerance as more dangerous than the religious intolerance, Minister of State in PMO with independent charge of North Eastern States, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that intellectuals are supposed to act as buffer against intolerance of any sort and if they become party to intolerance it is dangerous for the country as a whole.
Addressing a function held in connection with Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust Armature journalist awards for the year 2015 at K P Sabha here, today,
Dr Singh said during the partition when the country faced crisis and religious intolerance was on peak, intellectuals played a great role in defusing them and dousing the fire and act as a bridge among the communities.
Dr Singh presented the awards to well known economist and freelancer, Prof A N Sadhu and linguist, Omkar Kaul who writes for community magazine Naad. The award of Mr Kaul was received by Prof R L Shant.
Taking exception to the return of Sahitya Akademy awards by some writers, Dr Singh recalled the remarkable role of great intellectuals like Kaifi Azmi and others in this regard during partition of India. He said these intellectuals came to forefront in opposing the two nation theory. Some of the poets at that time wrote poems to imbibe the spirit of co-existence and patriotism among the people, he added.
He said the intellectuals are duty bound to act against the intolerance of any kind. He quoted a Urdu couplet of “Bollywood song Chingari Jo Agan Lagyay Sawan Usay Bujayai, Par Sawan Jo Agan Lagayai Usay Kon Bujayai’’ (the fire which takes place due to a sparking can be extinguished by water (Sawan) but if water acts as a fuel then who can extinguish it) he asked?
Dr Singh said the first intellectual who returned the Sahitya Akademi Award belongs to a Kashmiri family who has star ratings among the writers and she did not open her mouth about the mass exodus of Pandits in last 25 years.
Dr Singh said that he measures the intellectuals aptitude with three things, one is that he ( an intellectual) should have clarity of thought that means what he thinks he also practices that, second is what he believes he trusts that and third is courage of conviction.
While referring to founder president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Dr Shama Prasad Mookerjee, he said the great martyr had all these qualities. The intellectual who has such traits never thinks of returning awards, he added.
Maintaining that return of Kashmiri Pandits is top on the agenda of NDA Government led by Narendra Modi as well as part of agenda of alliance, of the State coalition, the Union Minister said that no decision will be taken in this regard without taking the Kashmiri Pandits on board. He however, urged the community to evolve a consensus on the issue.
He regretted that problems of Pandits are there for last 25 years and the demands which were being raised the day first of migration still exist. Admitting that misinformation campaign has been launched by some vested elements against the community, he said earlier an opinion was created that former Governor, Jagmohan was responsible for the migration and now an opinion is being created by these very elements that Pandits don’t want to return. This is not a fact totally, he added.
He urged the community to counter this propaganda with full force. Terming migration of Pandits from Valley a great tragedy, he said a big section of people became refugees in their own country and no body thought what will be its ramifications.
“We failed to check and redeem after three decades and to say this is a problem of a particular community is not a fact’’, he said, adding entire State and country suffered because of it.
Terming migration of Pandits a collective civilization loss, he said people in Kashmir also suffered due to it. Though they don’t realize this at present but the coming generations in Valley will realize the same, he added.
Dr Singh said migration of Pandits is a great cultural issue and a civilizational crisis faced by India as a whole. He however, expressed optimism with the remarkable performance of community youth who have carved out a niche in private sector for themselves and brought laurels to the State as well as community. Though this is a loss for the community as well as State, but it is a gain for the nation as a whole, he added.
Paying rich tributes to Pt Prem Nath Bhat who had attained martyrdom in 1989, he said the great martyr is an inspiration for the younger generations. He suggested establishment of Pt. Prem Nath Bhat chair in University.
Dr Singh without giving any assurance on the passage of Temples and Shrines Bill said that he personally feels that the religious places of Hindus in Kashmir should be guaranteed security and should be well managed and for this some mechanism needs to be crated.
He said in this regard the community instead of depending on Government has to take an initiative at its own level and work for creating a democratic process for managing the temples. A misconception has been created about the Temples Bill by certain elements when the facts are altogether different. The community is for safety and security of temples and those who spread canards have personnel interest in the same, he added.
Prof O N Trisal who presided over the function, however said that the initiative needs to be taken by Government as the community has pinned high hopes in present dispensation.
He said the temples and shrines of Kashmir are a matter of faith for the community and the Government should create a mechanism for their proper management and security. He said KPs are nationalists by core and it is not question where they are to be settled but Government should create conditions to resettle them in Kashmir -their ancestral land.
Earleir, Dr R L Bhat in his address strongly advocated for passage of Temples and Shrines Bill. He gave an account of religious places of Hindus to the Union Minister and reminded him that former spokesperson of BJP and present Union Minister, Nirmla Sita Raman has also given a word to the community in this regard.
He said the entire community is for the passage of the Bill to ensure safety and security of shrines and temples in Valley. He said Trust itself has to do nothing with management but it wants that a democratic management body to look after the Kashmiri Hindu shrines and temples in Valley be in place.
He also allayed the fears that after the formation of Board there will be interference with the temples and shrines where religious rituals are being performed by Sadhus and said Sadhus and Prohits will be free to perform their religious functions as usual but only the control will be with the Managing Board.
Prof A N Sadhu said that journalism was always important as an effective informative mechanism but these days media has emerged as a very powerful instrument of public opinion. “ I understand that print media serves as a source of information, as a contributory factor to growth of intellectualism as also a forceful expression of public opinion’’.
However, he regretted that media has gone much beyond commercial considerations and it seems it has overpowered the basic tenets of journalism which may a times cast a shadow on its social usefulness. “ We need an aggressive journalism more in the field of intellectuals and information.
Dr R L Shant who received the award on behalf of Omkar Kaul also spoke on the occasion while the citation on Prof Sahdu was read by M K Jalali president Sharika Peeth Sansthan, the citation on Omkar Kaul was read by A K Raina, senior vice president AIKS.
The stage was managed by Pardeep Kaul Khudbali and vote of thanks was proposed by Dr A N Pandita, chairman PNBMT.
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