Karanvir Gupta
It took me a while to pen this article on what was a burning topic a few days and weeks ago, The Kashmir Files. In fact I waited for the rage, the anger and the astonishment of the public to settle down and so that all the biases could be put aside while you read this article.
My search for this topic began back in 2006 when I stepped out of J&K. It’s been 16 years. From extreme North to extreme south in Vellore, it was like moving between two different worlds with similar problems and challenges. And I thought these common sufferings made me much like them and them as me. But not really so. The moment I told folks that I was from Jammu, came quick replies – “What! Where?” Is that even a place?
I paraphrased my answer, “I am from Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir”. While they now knew where I belonged, this was followed by a series of questions such as “Does it snow throughout the year?”, “How do you move out of your homes?”, “Are there militants roaming around freely, we have heard?”, “Have you heard bullet shots?” “Macha, have you ever seen a militant yourself?” I wondered, the version of Jammu and Kashmir (or probably only Kashmir) they had pictured in their heads. I thought probably the movie Roja had done its magic and Kashmir overshadowed all other regions, Jammu and Leh, that were a part of the collective State of J&K. The days when I sported beard, I was a Muslim and on days of clean shave, I was a Kashmiri Pandit. Nobody knew that I was a Dogra Hindu. But I enjoyed the versions and apprehensions they appended to me and my existence.
I thought this flurry of questions, assumptions and ignorance would eventually fade in a few months but it didn’t. Everytime I met new people and we exchanged pleasantries, I found myself answering the same questions. At college. At my new job. In new public gatherings. And people forgot that I said I belonged to Jammu – they only remembered the Kashmir part of my answer and thrusted me with a slew of questions. The answers to which, I knew for some and for some I didn’t. And I realised Kashmir is an integral part of my identity and I, an inextricable extension of its past, present and future.
For someone like me who had grown up reading headlines such as “8kg RDX found”, “Another attempt of terrorists to blast the bridge foiled”, “4 Army men killed”, “3 militants encountered” – a lot of details seemed natural to me. But as and when I grew – I found that a lot of information was muddled in how Kashmir was presented over the years and there is a lot more to the Kashmir saga than just meets the eye and shown in the media. And Kashmir being a sensitive issue – it became even more important to separate the fact from emotional bias. That is how my search began for The Kashmir Files back in 2006. Because the truth must be told.
Months passed. Years Passed. I went back to the traditional medium of books – read more of them. I answered more and more questions people now asked me about Kashmir – separating fact from the opinion. And I thought with time these questions will die and the world will know Kashmir the way it is. People will be less astonished about the puzzle called Kashmir with time. But how wrong I was! The movie – The Kashmir Files – got released and I saw the world going crazy. Let alone the world, our own country and its public still remain amused by the story called Kashmir. It became tough to figure out if it was the truth that bothered them or the denial of Right to truth for so many years that bothered them. The world was split into two.
But there are a few things that stood out stark in this entire incident. It took 30 years for movies like Shikara (by Vidhu Vinod Chopra) and The Kashmir Files (by Vivek Agnihotri) to present one ugly piece in the story called Kashmir which is the mass exodus (mass genocide) of Kashmiri Pandits that took place on the nights of 19 and 20 January 1990. It took quite long but finally we know that art can be used to showcase truth that is gory and stranger than fiction. We now know that art can be used to reach to mass for maximum outreach and impact.
What remains startling is the silence of the Bollywood fraternity on the release and success of the movie. It confuses me why all cool boys and girls raise their hands in appreciation or support of many other movies like Aarakshan but remain silent on The Kashmir Files. If one represents the atrocities of a marginalised section of society at large, the other is a story of the ethnic cleansing of a marginalised section in a region based on religion. Do they not believe this to be true? Or do they believe it to be a part of the political agenda and propaganda?
Talking about the “propaganda”, this is the third most startling thing that I observed in the last few weeks of time. A lot of people took this movie as a move by the ruling party to consolidate Hindu votes and a propaganda to reaffirm and validate their decision to abrogate Article 370. Well, I would rather object to the Prime Minister endorsing any particular movie for their political benefit. But tarnishing the complete movie as farce and deem it to be a political agenda would be a wrong thing to do and yet another collective attempt to suppress the truth that remained buried for the last 32 years. Because the Kashmir exodus is for real.
My parents witnessed the trucks that loaded people from Kashmir overnight along with their cattle from Kashmir valley to Jammu. Those trucks were real. Those people were real. Their misery was real. The settlement area for Kashmiri migrants (known as Jagti township) is real. The people whose stories are being told in the movie are not fictional characters. They are real too. Some of them just live around, in front of us carrying their pain in their heart longing for the Kashmir they left years back. Do you really think that the entire movie is a propaganda?
However amidst this debate between ‘us’ and ‘them’, there are two things no one is talking about. One, what made the entire neighbourhood believe that it was absolutely fine to assist Islamic fundamentalists in killing their Kashmiri Hindu brethren. What irked them to an extent that murdering, torturing, raping and killing of innocenet people they had lived with for so many years seemed like the only option available to them?
Secondly, just because a particular cohort of fundamentalists in one part of the country executed genocide, doesn’t give us the right to blemish the entire muslim brotherhood. If that seems like a solution, then German Nazis and Britishers who commited atrocities on more than half of the world should be treated likewise. But we do not do that. Right? You cannot blame an entire race, religion, sect or ethnic group for the vices committed by a subset of the whole. A subset that is unique and purposely driven with ulterior motives. Rather we need to be looking at where humanity got it wrong so that we can mend that and ensure the history doesn’t repeat. Sadly, we look at mistakes and we think of revenge. No one thinks about healing.
The question is should movies like The Kashmir Files be made? My answer would be a vehement Yes! The challenge is rather than reacting emotionally and siding with them or them, can we get to know the facts – as a citizen of the country and be aware. This movie is a testament to the fact that how unaware and beguile we are about the state of affairs in our country.
Truth be told, one needs to ask why the then CM of J&K resigned on 18th Jan 1990? Why did the then Home Minister appointed the Governor to the state on 21st Jan 1990? Why the genocide was executed on the nights of 19th and 20th Jan when the state was left orphaned? Who gave the permission for threatening messages to be read over loudspeakers from mosques across the valley? Why was there an entire power shutdown except for in mosques on those nights? Was it all planned or all these dates and nuances a mere coincidence? Why were the elections in 1987 rigged? Why did the media not present the real picture of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits? Why did the false propaganda take place? To all those who promise resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, my question is, is it so easy to go back and live with the murderers of your families? Can your promise and manifesto undo the loss and misery done to the public? Then why give that false hope?
There has already been a lot of damage done to the public of Jammu and Kashmir at the hands of competing parties (NC and PDP) of the state over the last 30 years. The public has been fooled and looted over and again with the parties’ own political agenda and ulterior motives to sit at the throne of crown of India and exploit that position of responsibility incorrigibly. Every political party loves to talk about shahadat, Kashmiriyat, Jhamooriyat, Insaniyat, nainssafi but no one talks about development, peace, revenue and avenues because these words don’t galvanise the public enough to fetch the votes. The remaining harm is done by their aggressive tweets and twitter feed keeping the public emotionally charged and tangled.
Is The Kashmir Files a propaganda or not, that’s not even the question?
The question we should be asking after watching The Kashmir Files is have we evolved enough as a society that there will never be another Kashmir Files in history? Are we sure that what happened in Kashmir 32 years ago will not happen in Jammu or for that matter any other place? Can we create an atmosphere of peace and brotherhood that motivates us to live amicably with each other? Are we creating an ecosystem that can sustain a secular milieu? The question is are we moved enough to know the truth that remains untold? If yes, The Kashmir Files is a great movie.
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