TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
Even as the Kashmir politician is busy trying to peel out the last shred of possible mileage accruing from the Afzal Guru applecart, the “Aam” Kashmiri in the streets of Srinagar basks in the ecstasy of tourist boom quite unmindful, if not wholly indifferent, to Afzal Guru. The prophets of doom, who were predicting the worst and secretly wished for worst to gain some political upmanship in the run-up to election next year, stand outwitted by the swift march of events as the common man chooses to move ahead turning a deaf year to protagonists of “Azaadi” in the separatist camp and their “more-loyal-than-thou” sympathisers in the state ruling camp.
Politically, the most hilarious aspect of this phenomenon is that the very high-ups in the ruling polity including the Hon’ble Chief Minister who were till yesterday accusing the Opposition parties as well as the union government of having disturbed the peace in Kashmir and thereby also spoilt tourist season in Kashmir by sending Afzal Guru to gallows, are now tweeting to take credit and express joy for a heavy rush of tourists witnessed in the Valley at the very advent of current tourist season. Now, by implication, is the expression of such tweets an inadvertent retrospective admission of the fact that these “twitters” had wrongly assessed the ground situation in Kashmir while predicting “hell” following the hanging of Afzal Guru “Saheb” whereas on the other hand the union Home Ministry proved much smarter by having confidentally concluded that business would go on as usual even after Guru’s execution.
Meanwhile, outside the realms of political upmanship, there is perhaps much more to introspect on the hitherto less introspected aspect of the psyche of the common man, more so that of the common youth, in Kashmir. What has been for example the impact, if any, of the unprecedented unrest leading to disruption of just concluded Budget session of State legislature because a majority of the Hon’ble members seemed to be under the incessant spell of Afzal Guru “ghost” seeking divine redemption to salvage what they perceived the hurt sentiment of the common man?
Mahatma Gandhi always said, what use is freedom or liberty if it leaves behind a trail of violence with widows and orphans as survivors and to that extent he even went on to tacitly oppose unquestionably patriotic but violent methodology adopted by Bhagat Singh and his colleagues. In the context of Jammu & Kashmir, the ruling elite, which uses fanciful phrase of “selective” execution to denounce the decision to carry out hanging of Afzal Guru, is perhaps itself guilty of “selective” denouncement with its record of coming out vociferously in support of Afzal Guru, Maqbool Bhat, Liaqat Shah et al but turning shy, evasive and timid in paying homage to martyred Indian security force Jawans who are mercilessly ambushed and killed without provocation by foreign sponsored terrorists.
Be that as it may, notwithstanding tall claims of State socalled “young” leadership at the helm, it is not they but the young Kashmiri on the ground who shows the way ahead to move on to be a part of global dream of progress and prosperity. And even as his ruling masters shed tears of sympathy for hom on the floor of state legislature, Umapathy is determined to make up for a murky past without a tear in his eye, emulating the poetic advice “Aap Kahte The Rone Se Na Badle Ge Naseeb, Bas Is Baat Ne Umr Bhar Rone Na Diya!”
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