Ashish Kaul
One nation, one flag and one Constitution has been the adage for the longest time post-independence. Without any doubt, the Modi Govt. has given the emblem of One Nation-One Constitution a new high. There were several clauses added to the Constitution after independence that were intended to create a stronger, better and elevated India. Article 370 was disputed from the beginning amidst all these clauses. Today, the abrogation of Article 370, implementation of NRC & CAA is a celebration and also a political moot point. When you see books replaced with stones and sweat with blood, you know nothing is well with Indian youth. It should matter to rest of us because India is the youngest nation in the world with about 72% of our population under the age of 32. Free Kashmir posters made a debut in erstwhile Bombay last week and my hard earned money – your hard earned money is already being burnt down and vandalised in Delhi and Bengal in the name of Kashmir, CAA and NRC by the same youth that runs the biggest back office of the world.
Article 370 has been a peculiar irony for Jammu and Kashmir. On one hand, it has given the Muslim society power and aggression while on the other, it blocked the development of areas like Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar and Ladakh for decades. These regions will now benefit from progressive all-inclusive schemes of the Centre after a long hiatus of 70 years. Yes this has been a difficult time for people of the state in absence of telephony and Internet. Yes, life in the past was challenging and may continue to be so for some more time but do we understand why these restrictions are much needed?. Peace and prosperity is not a candy you can buy at a departmental store; so was independence that came at humbling invaluable sacrifices of our forefathers. Let me say this to the youth– go back to the schools, read the right books, educate yourselves beyond propaganda and save yourselves from becoming political fodder.
Dissent is the very base of democracy – but that is dissent and not destruction. Kashmir is the only region in the world that mastered and unleashed the art of state sponsored Islamic terror right under the nose of the great Indian democracy. Kashmir has had a history of Islamic terror right from the turn of 11th century that transformed Hindu dominance into a minuscule minority. Dal Lake is the largest graveyard of Hindus in the world where men, women and children were massacred daily by the Afghan Governor in the brutal game of Votalbuj and dumped in the Lake. The Afghan dictates to aid conversion of Hindus in Kashmir is unparalleled in the world. The dictates including forbidding Hindus to even cry on death in family, religious festivals, worshiping, owning modes of transportation, jewelry, decorative cloths and even wearing shoes was forbidden. Eventually, 1931 onwards and upto 1956 was the time that modern Kashmir witnessed widespread persecution of minorities and exodus. 1956 onwards saw the emergence of the goriest face of Indian democracy at work that allowed the transformation of Islamic terror into state sponsored ethnic cleansing specifically directed at minorities. After the Kashmir Conspiracy case that saw Shaikh Mohd. Abdullah and his colleagues behind bars, 4 tools of ethnic cleansing were formalized.
These were spearheaded by Land Reforms Act and J&K State Competent Authority. Land Reforms Act was the state sponsored land grab of minorities without any compensation and the land transformed to Muslims. J&K State Competent Authority was introduced to deny admission to minorities into professional institutions; the entire procedure was non-merit and interview based. The cleansing strategy was clear – take their properties, deny them education and employment thus fueling migration Indian heartland. It was only during late 80’s that the perpetrators realized that minorities were still not leaving that they unleased the 4th and final assault through armed terrorism ironically by Afghan terrorists. Hindu opinion leaders and Sikhs were brutally murdered in cold blood and their bodies lay in the open for days in compliance of the orders of terrorist organizations to further fear psychosis. This eventually led to the days of January1990 when thousands of Muslims resorted to anti India and Anti Hindu protests, arson, stone pelting and eventually the birth of world’s first breed of “Kashmiri Hindus – The refugees in their own country”. Ever since, homes and temples have been desecrated and the former Chief Minister Mehbooba was brazenly reported as saying “Kashmir no longer has oxygen for aboriginals”. Technology has been a single largest factor in mobilisation of anti-India vandalisations in Kashmir and it is nothing but a remarkable feat to achieve current peace. No wonder it is worrying anti-nationals.
Likewise Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens (NRC). It is all right for people to protest – most of them were objectively conditioned illiterates left over by the Britons but for the young, vibrant and educated youth of India to protest CAA and NRC is utterly embracing. Especially when you take the Indian situation from global perspective. Every country that prospers needs the support of fundamentally nationalist – mind you not secular but nationalist. Secularism in isolation is a widely misrepresented and an abused term and must be read with Nationalism. Our earlier masters left India bereft of dignity and self-esteem to prosper and hence a part of Indian populace still finds everything wrong in what India stood for. They promote and practice denial of our own glory and the very reason we were continuously invaded and vandalized for 800 years.
The anti – CAA and NRC is a reflection of same ignorance. Something as simple as a CAA that will allow persecuted minorities of Indian origin to return to their roots and strengthen a nationalist following. The exclusion of Muslims has many reasons and Kashmir is right on the top. If not Kashmir look at Europe, UK, America and remember how have they suffered. If nothing remember 9/11 and 26/11, remember why we can’t celebrate our festivals without fear, remember why we are no longer safe in any walk of life. When I say this, I do say that not all of them are wrong but it is the silence of the overwhelming majority that has unleased worst on the humanity. Above all, Muslims don’t want to come to India, they want to go to Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA and Europe. Pakistani’s don’t want to come to India – do they? They say India is their enemy no. 1 – so who are you fighting for? Privacy and segmentation is an illusion. Look at USA, despite being constitutionally secular the US congress hosts National Prayer Breakfast, a Christian fellowship initiative where all the members of the US congress eat and pray together in the name of Christ. Christ did not stop them from becoming the greatest country so why will Ram or Krishna stop the big Indian march?.
Did we not apply for Aadhar cards, PAN Cards, don’t we complete arduous paperwork even for a harmless SIM card, Passports?. Does it come without identification? WWW interface, bank accounts, vehicles, Amazon, Flipkart and Netflix – which part of our daily life including Roti, Kapda and Makaan comes without documentation? Yes, no doubt a part of population, especially, in deep villages may not have paperwork –oh! Come on; have you read the NRC? Even a village Panch anywhere in India can vouch for antecedents. Yes, it should put Hindus to test also, if they don’t have paperwork there is no reason they shouldn’t. Even a simple rent agreement is sufficient. In view of dilution of Nationalism due to various other ‘isms’ – CAA makes an exceptionally strong case for India to have a larger role play in maintaining peace, harmony and prosperity in the Asia region – but you seem to be busy chanting freedom for terrorists to understand this. It’s my money, it’s our money that pays for the very institutions and properties you vandalise– to you I say, get off my country if you don’t want to get back to the classrooms and contribute to making India great.
(The author is a Business Leader)
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