Kashmiri Pandits and the constitution of India

K K Khosa
The nation today requires the strong and decisive leadership of Narendra Modi Ji more than ever before. The ecosystem promoted and supported by George Soares has been trying it’s level best to deprive Bharat of Modi’s deft leadership, making common cause with our estranged neighbors, the ungrateful and villainous Pakistan, as well as with the very wily dragon. Both nations have different reasons for their hatred and animosity towards India.
In spite of their nefarious designs the NDA III embarked on it’s journey of steering the nation towards it’s highly ambitious goal of making India a developed country by 2047. The Viksit Bharat abhiyaan reflects Narendra Modi’s vision, who pleasantly surprised the nation by achieving his twin objectives during the NDA I and NDA III regimes.
First, the resurgence of India’s centuries old cultural and religious ethos and the other, the unprecedented and mind blowing infrastructure development that India remained deprived of, during the first six decades, post independence. Credit goes to the people of Bharat who realized after sixty-five years that they had been hitherto exploited and the nation ruined by successive Central Governments mostly led by the Indian National Congress. Having realized this, the patriotic people of the nation brought an amazing and honest leader to power, having an incredible track record of leading the state of Gujarat to prosperity and happiness, carrying along all sections of society, for twelve long years. Many were skeptical about how a regional leader would be able to provide good governance to this nation, which boasts of diversity of every conceivable variety. Adding to this, the complexities and variations of it’s humongous problems and issues, out of which many were thrust upon it by the retreating British, making the task of governance very daunting. Past ten years of governance bear ample testimony to the fact that the nation has moved forward in every respect under the Modi led government and even it’s stock has raised higher, amongst the comity of nations. A very wise electorate therefore decisively ensured, that this sagacious and visionary leadership continues in future as well. Of course there are some issues which have remained unaddressed thus far and this God sent opportunity hopefully would be utilized to resolve those.
Our nation is a multidimensional composition of people professing different religions and faiths, speaking different languages, having varied cultures and ethnicities, speaking a variety of dialects and yet being identified as one nation, connected with a common bond which has remained intact for many millennia, inspite of foreign invasions coupled with internal sabotage from time to time.
The common thread of Sanatan dharm has been a strong and durable cementing force which is as strong today as it was many millennia ago, inspite of many attacks and attempts to subjugate and obliterate it, particularly during the last millennium. With the Modi Government’s commendable initiatives at resurgence and revitalization of sanatan, these efforts will get a fresh lease which will help counter the nefarious designs of the left liberal forces of destruction and destabilization.
These efforts will also help in countering elements wanting to resort to mass conversions, both by force as well as by coercion, inducement and allurement. While Gazwa-e- Hind is an awoved goal of the radical Islamists, others attempt to spread their faiths by manipulation and contrivance.
One of the many issues which vigorously occupied centre stage and became subject matter of electoral narratives during the recent Lok Sabha polls, both in election rallies by top leadership of all major political parties as well as in media debates and discourses, was the clamor and fuss about perceived threat to the constitution of India. While the opposition, particularly the Congress party, kept raising the bogey of subversion of the constitution in case NDA was once again voted to power, the ruling alliance raised the issue of imposition of emergency on 25th of June 1975 by Smt. Indira Gandhi, even declaring the day as “Samvidhan Hatya Divas,” in order to highlight the impending threat to the constitution in case Congress would come to power. In all this cacophony what’s been disconcerting and disappointing is that the glaring and continuous violation of fundamental rights of the Kashmiri Pandits seemed to be of no body’s concern. Articles fourteen to twenty-eight which comprise the core of the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution are available to every citizen of the nation. Ironically, these have been continuously infringed for thirty four long years in so far as the Displaced Kashmiri Pandits are concerned. Thus, what right do political parties have, to show their concern about the perceived threat to the constitution when infringement of their fundamental rights have been unabashedly disregarded by them for decades. Narendra Modi has rendered yeoman’s service to the nation as well as to the erstwhile state of J&K by abrogation of articles 370 & 35A thus paving the way for applicability of 113 Central laws, benefiting 1.40 crore people of this state, who had hitherto remained deprived, for seven long decades. Yet it’s a dichotomy of sorts that a few lacs of the state’s population have been braving violations of their fundamental, as well as their human rights which are rightfully available to every citizen of the nation, particularly after the constitution of India became applicable in 1950. They are being forced to live away from their ancestral habitat and this aberration has gained acceptability with the political class of every ideology. The right to equality, right to life and security, right to dignified living, right to freedom of expression, right to live in any part of the nation, right to follow any religion and right against exploitation are fundamental to every single citizen of the nation. There is even a fundamental right to get any or all of the above rights enforced through constitutional remedies available to every citizen. Presuming that the government has been unable to safeguard these rights for some reason, they can’t create a narrative that the constitution faces threat of subversion in case some other parties aquire power. Similar analogy holds true for the congress dominated I.N.D.I. alliance. Kashmiri Pandits have full faith that their subverted rights will be restored in full measure during the tenure of Narendra Modi Ji led NDA III Government and that the entire community will be resettled in the land of it’s forefathers with honour, dignity and full sense of security.
Narendra Modi Ji must realize that upholding of fundamental and human rights is the primary duty of every democratically elected government, especially in case of an ethnic minority which doesn’t have the wherewithal to successfully get it’s rights enforced. Till then, there is no other option for the Pandits, but to find solace from Sahir Ludhianvi’s ever lasting poem “Woh subha kabhi toh aayegi.”
(The author is President Kashmiri Pandit Sabha Jammu)