Man, the supreme of all the creatures, was created by the creator to conquer and rule the world, and under his rule it was meant to transform the world into Paradise. Centuries ago, this geographic entity called Kashmir, was deemed as ‘paradise on earth’ by the people of great intellect due to its scenic beauty and prevailing peace. Eversince the partition of India in 1947, the pro-India, pro-Pakistan and separatists political players tried to rule over the land and the people inhabiting Kashmir but till now no one has succeeded to transform their dreams into reality. Till now Kashmir (Including PaK) neither became the inseparable part of India nor it became the functional jugular vein of Pakistan nor it got consolidated into a sovereign political entity. All the three stakeholders of Kashmir i.e New Delhi, Islamabad and Pro-independence leadership every now and then, are trying to lord their word over the people of Kashmir in order to gain more support from their existing comfort zones and extend their area of influence. They are repeatedly trying to extract the songs of praise from the tight lipped Kashmiris in their favour but in turn, due to the antagonism, we are getting nothing except ex-gratia, a cell in a jail or a strong tribute during funeral gatherings. Hope that peace will again return to Kashmir.
Thursday, 9 February 2017
India, the mother land of religious humanist M.K. Gandhi, is a land of heterogeneous racial, lingual, religious and social groups. It is regarded as a model for religious harmony. All the major religions practised in the world have their followers in India. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism owe their origin to Indian subcontinent. Christianity and Islam were also given a warm reception and space to flourish in India. With the advent of these religions India became a multi-religious country. In spite of the diversity of religions, languages and castes, the people of India have continued to adhere to the basic ideas of humanism, tolerance and respect towards all religions, making India a model of secularism.
All the people of India are held together by a shared understanding and a bond of nationalism. There existed a notion of ‘one-ness’, ‘we-ness’ and indianness throughout the country. Every true Indian was proud to be part of India because of its feature of ‘unity in diversity’.
Unfortunately, the unity and communal harmony is being severely attacked by some religious and political fundamentalist parties. The religious and political fundamentalism and intolerance resurfaced with new vigour recently after the fundamentalist political parties got the driver’s seat in Indian temple of power.
Today, the notion ‘unity in diversity’ seems to have lost its grip. The occurrence of communal riots, political violence and ethnic animosity is disturbing our social peace. Many intellectuals return their awards back to the state, bollywood megastars are directed to leave the country, fans of opposite sports team are being booked, beef eaters are given advice to settle in Pakistan and even killed, secular minded people are painted black, people working for heavenly causes are deemed as antinationals, communal riots are being fanned, programmes like Ghar wapsi and Bahu Lao Beti Bachao are being patronised.
The back room boys of fundamentalist parties are tarnishing the image of democracy and nationalism by burning alive the nationals of the same country for pretty small issues.
These fundamentalists never tread beyond their own thinking. They never like to change what they think to be correct in spite of contrary evidence. They often break every rule in the book to keep their opponents mum. Those who think the other way are being cowed down. Their tongues are threatened to be cut out. Even, the elected members, having opposite opinion, are being assaulted by the leaders and followers of fundamentalist parties.
These incidents have created an atmosphere of mistrust and alienation among some sections of the society. Incidents like these, if continued, can give a severe blow to the nationalism and national integration.
Fundamentalists, whether religious or political, want to gain total control over everything in this secular democracy. Growing Fundamentalism can prove disastrous for this country having multiple diversities. Here no one can lord his word over the others because no one has authority to rule over others except under law.
Here the sin is to be hated if not the sinner. The evils like fundamentalism, religious or non religious, intolerance, prejudice and discrimination of any type must be rejected for the sake of national integration. It is only in a tolerant society , that man can prosper and work for the overall good of the nation and humanity. Hope that communal harmony and mutual trust will return to this secular and world’s most populous democracy otherwise the situation of India could be no different than the prevailing situation of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
So, we, the people of sovereign, secular and democratic India need liberty in every field of life and want to see unity in the country because, as always, the whole is more stronger than the sum of its constituent parts.
Gupkar@gmail.com Failed to Save the Ship of NC from sinking. How come Fairview@gmail.com Rescue PDP
The people of valley have taught NC a lesson of its wrongdoings and in near future PDP has to be at receiving end and learn passively from the proceedings.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference in coalition with Indian National Congress ruled the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 2008 and 2014 under the chief ministership of Omar Abdullah. The party was having had 27 seat strength in the State Legislative Assembly which was slashed to 13 when the people of the valley showed their resentment against the party in 2014 elections. House confinement of Hurriyat leaders, mishandling of Shopian double rape and murder case, killing of over a hundred unarmed civilians protestors by the security forces, legal and moral loopholes in the execution of Afzal Guru, imposing ban on mobile SMS in the state during their rule etc. were the main causes of the downfall of NC. After losing all three parliamentary seats of the valley in the 2014 Parliamentary elections, NC realised its guilt and immediately launched gupkar@gmail.com, an E-mail service to hear public grievances and suggestions in order to avoid such whitewash in the upcoming Assembly elections which were due in November sae year. Few workable initiatives were undertaken and a lot of lip service was done to retain the past glory of the party, but this dream was washed away by the September floods and their hopes were lost in November when the results of 2014 Assembly elections were pronounced. The people of valley rejected the NC and gave decisive mandate to PDP to represent them and give healing touch to their wounds. PDP seat strength in the state Legislative Assembly got increased to 28 in 2014 from 20 in 2008. People of the valley voted for PDP as a resentment against NC’s policies, to counter the entry of BJP into the Muslim majority and politically volatile state, and their promises like giving general amnesty to all detained stone pelters, lifting curbs and talking with Hurriyat leaders, protection & restoration of special status of the state, revocation of AFSPA, encouraging Indo-Pak dialogue and to generate employment avenues in the state.
PDP which was opposing the entry of BJP on to the ruling berths of the state Assembly during election campaigning finally entered into the coalition with the same party when the people of Jammu division gave absolute majority to the latter. Till now none of promises of ruling PDP got materialised. The same old arrest spree, detention of Hurriyat leaders, protests, civilian killings, communal tension, ban on internet, mobile phone service, social media & press, imposition of curfews & restrictions continues to happen in the valley.
Till now the ruling PDP has completely failed to give a healing touch to the wounds of the people of the valley. All the activities which became the cause for the downfall of political parties and governments in Jammu and Kashmir are being practised by PDP. The unarmed protestors are being killed, communication channels are being blocked, Hurriyat leaders are continuously kept behind the bars, the special status of the state and its demography is being altered.
Every ruling party has to think twice before taking any step in the trouble hit Jammu and Kashmir. The political parties based in politically volatile state of Jammu and Kashmir have to think umpteen times before putting their foot forward. People here are armed with a number of gadgets and tactics to teach any political party a lesson without giving them any chance to hold the ground. Mass movements and agitations can erupt anytime in Kashmir and can trample down even the strongest forces of time.
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