Prashant Bhushan - How can we tolerate him?

Prashant Bhushan (PB) has received a lot of flak for his statements on Kashmir. While most people have criticized his statements, he does have a small share of supporters as well. Many observers have pitted Kashmiri Pandits (KP) against PB. Main reason being the loss of homeland of KPs, which will become almost permanent, if Kashmir is taken out of India.

I am a Kashmiri Pandit. I do not support violence. If we supported violence, we would have been sitting in the luxury of mother nature in our beloved Kashmir! We wouldn’t have been ignored by the spineless Government of India, who seem to listen only to the sound of violence (bullets, bombs, stones)!

I thought of putting down my thoughts in this blog article - given that IT has given me this
opportunity to share my thoughts with all those who might be interested.

I heard PB on some news channel where he elaborated on his view point on Kashmir. Here are some key takeaways form his interview, and my thoughts on each of his points:

"Kashmiri people have the right to decide whether they want to be with India or not. We should let them decide."
This is a great thought that one can have without understanding the situation. If PB would understand Kashmir, then this statement would be very naïve to make. Few points here:
Till when do we keep the option open for people to decide on whether they are part of India or not? Does every individual in India have the option to decide whether he/she wants to be part of India or not? If he/she doesn’t want to be part of India, does he/she also have the option to declare his/her owned land as not part of India?

Ok, I give it to the sympathizers of PB that we are not talking about one individual, but a group of people. Now how big a group constitutes a group that can have this say? Is it all people who speak Kashmiri language? Is it all people of one religion living in what we geographically define as Kashmir valley? Is it all people of what is geographically called the state of J&K? Given all the money, blood, sweat spent by all those who consider themselves Indian, for protection and development of J&K, does rest of India have no say in J&K?

Ok, I take the most preferred sub-segment as per the sympathizers of PB (I hope people see the manipulation of the situation by PB like folks, by suggesting arguments based on this sub-segment) - Let us only talk about the people of Kashmir valley. 700,000 Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) do not want Kashmir valley to be separated from India. Does their view hold any value? Or, does the majority decide? If the majority decides, then does that same apply to all other parts of India? Do we then agree to a culture where majority community should decide what bread crumbs to throw at the minority? But, that is not supported by people like PB when Hindus are in majority! What contradiction! What double-standards!

I have my right of opinion, and Indian constitution provides me the right to dissent.
Absolutely true, Mr PB. But, have you forgotten your fundamental duties? The likes of PB always take the argument of right to speech, but conveniently forget their fundamental duties.

Mr PB, you have the voice today because you were raised on the pedestal by the people of India, because they believed in you for your anti-corruption efforts. Now that you have that kind of following, you cannot make any irresponsible statements. Yes, you understood my point right, you no longer can have completely independent thoughts on such sensitive subjects. It amounts to back-stabbing of people like me, who have been blind supporters of the Jan Lokpal movement!

And, when you do make such statements, be prepared for backlash from people who feel frustrated and angry at such comments. When you can understand and empathize with the violence perpetrated by the Kashmiri terrorists, when you canempathize with the guns and bombs that ethnically cleansed the aborigines of the Kashmir valley, when you can empathize with the stone pelters - why this double standard of not empathizing with three young men who just gave you a few blows. Yes, "just" few blows, because
these few blows to one person is negligible (not even worth a mention) to the violence you empathized till date (that I listed earlier in this para)!

One of the PB like, self proclaimed Human Rights activist, Gautam Navlakha, once said that he supports armed struggle for the rights, and aspirations of people. But, when they personally get even a slap on their face (leave aside feeling the pain of people tortured to death) they cry foul!May God grant them the strength when they introspect and realize what hypocrites they are!

Parties like Sri Ram Sena should be banned in India
I have no idea about the group called Sri Ram Sena (SRS). I have only heard about them for their disapproval of Valentines day. I do not agree to any such moral policing. One can preach one's ideology, but cannot go and take law in their hands. Having said that, even before there was any confirmation of whether any of the three people who heckled PB were part of SRS, PB demanded that they should be banned in India! How pathetic of such a so-called "expert" lawyer to have forgotten the principles of law and principles of justice, to directly proclaim the verdict without any investigation or validation! If such an incident had happened to somebody like Pramod Muttalik, PB would have first argued that he got the fruit of his actions, and would have then declared - let law take its own course! In fact, if my memory serves me right, it did happen with Pramod, and everybody declared that Pramod got what he deserved. But, the same principles do not apply to highly intellectual people like PB. How sick can that be!

I couldn’t bear him anymore, so I changed the channel. Later I read some newspaper reports and read some facebook comments of people who support India Against Corruption (IAC). Here are some key takeaways from those forums:

We should protest against the attack on PB.

So, from now on, even if PB commits a murder, no action should be taken against him! Right? I completely understand that some vested interests want to split the Jan Lokpal movement. I understand that we need to stay together to defeat such forces that want to derail this movement. But, the first ownership for such unity lies with the leaders of the movement. When cases were slapped against Anna, Arvind, Kiran Bedi, etc, we were vigilant. We assured them of our support. But, this is a statement by PB himself. He is being irresponsible. Even if he had apologized for such a statement, things could have been buried there and then. He went on and on with his statements on national television. If he is going to be in the leadership team of the movement, the movement is bound to fail! When we want to stay united for the cause, then such people shouldn’t be allowed to use this support for any other motive but anti-corruption!

If India Against Corruption protests for this attack on PB, they are then moving away from anti-corruption movement and supporting an anti-India movement! Sorry, I would never ever be part of such a movement. Wake up brothers and sisters, we are here for Jan Lokpal, and not for PB pal!!!

It is PBs personal view and that shouldn’t derail IAC movement.
I heard even Anna give this statement. If this is true, and if we are OK with people having such personal opinions on such sensitive topics, then why distance yourself from Baba Ramdev? Why distance from BJP? Why distance from RSS? We distanced this movement from them because we said the movement should not get embroiled in other controversies like so-called communalism (any pro-Hindu stance is communal stance in India). Why doesn’t the same principle apply to PB? We should immediately distance ourselves from this person with communist ideology! We should immediately distance ourselves from this person with anti-national ideology!

I hope our mature and intelligent Indian citizens are able to clearly see the real PB (and his likes). Either PB, and his likes, are completely naïve, or they have sinister designs and vested interest in breaking our dream called India. Either way, they should be condemned by all, and shunted away from all people's movements like Jan Lokpal!

Jai Hind!

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा!

मेरी ज़मीन मुझे बुलाती है, एक आवाज़ लगाती है!

कब आएगा लौट के घर को तू, बस यही सवाल सुनाती है!

 

वो पल अकसर याद आते हैं, जब मौत नाची थी राहों में!

काफिर काफिर कह कह के जब, पीठ घौंपी थी अपने ही यारों ने!

 

एलानों में यालगारों में, हर जुलूस में लगते नारों में,

कश्मीरियत को जलाते रहे, मुखबिर कहके दहलाते रहे!

वो दहशत के पल रब जाने, कब जाएँगे मेरी यादों से!

 

मेरी ज़मीन मुझे बुलाती है, एक आवाज़ लगाती है!

कब आएगा लौट के घर को तू, बस यही सवाल सुनती है!

 

मेरे हुमवतनो मेरे साथियो, मेरे कदमों के साथ चलो!

मेरे संघर्ष में, वनवास में, मेरी थोड़ी सी मदद करो!

मुझे मेरा गाँव चाहिए, वो चिनार की छाँव चाहिए!

मेरा घर वो मेरा आशियाँ, जहाँ बीता था बचपन चाहिए!

 

ऐलान यह करता हूँ अभी, सुन ले मेरे कातिल सभी,

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा, फिर वहीं जहाँ बसाऊंगा!

अपने आँगन में फिर से मैं, अपनी दुनिया सजाऊंगा!

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा, मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा!

Pied Piper?

So often my thoughts go back to the winter of 1989-90. It is extremely painful memory, and I just can’t erase it. Time and again, my thoughts take my soul back through that painful experience. I hear that time heals all wounds, but this wound seems to be too deep to be cured so easily.

Why did I, and all my community members, have to leave their home and hearth? Why did we have to live a life in exile? Why were so many of Kashmiri Pundits languishing in tent accommodations across various places in North India, when they had big bungalows and big fields in their homeland? As per the terrorists like Yaseen Malik, Bitta Karate, and others of their ilk, it was because Kashmiri Pundits were like rats following the Pied Piper (read Jagmohan)!

Imagine a whole community (about 500,000 people) blindly following orders of the Governor, who declares that in order for India to have a free hand in Kashmir, Kashmiri Pundits should leave their homeland. And, all Kashmiri Pundits feel “Wow, this guy is our Guru, lets just leave everything and live in tents for a while!” If Jagmohan indeed achieved this feat, then he might well be an Avatar of Jesus Christ!

Would anyone leave all he/she has, and leave stealthily in the dead of the night, to live a life of an exile, because one person asks him/her to do it? Well, maybe a few might just get swayed, but would 500,000? Unless of course, that one person is Jesus Christ, Shri Krishna, or the like.

Whenever Kashmiri Pundits talk about the barbaric killings of their folks by the Islamic zealots, they are told to stop whining and wailing. Why shouldn’t we raise our voice? Has even one person been held responsible for our plight? Has even one case of crimes against our community resulted in any justice?

How would you react if the person responsible for killing many of your community members, responsible for killing some of your bright Air Force personnel, raping one of your sisters, is acclaimed by your own country mates as a leader of peace? He is out there serving sermons on how Kashmir would return to peace? It is so ironic and frustrating!

Well, if Jagmohan wasn’t responsible for the plight of Kashmiri Pundits, then who is?

I go back to 1986, when there were riots against the minority community of Kashmiri Pundits in the valley of Kashmir. I understand that the arms and terrorists eased into Kashmir even before that. The riots of 1986 were first major indication of things to come for Kashmir in general, and Kashmiri Pundits in particular. I remember when I was in primary school (1986-89), my Muslim classmates would keep talking about how they will be liberating Kashmir and make it a part of Pakistan. Yes, even primary school kids were talking about the imminent catastrophe! No prizes for guessing what would be the topic of discussions in their homes. Just that Kashmiri Pundits did not realize the gravity of the situation. We were blinded by the traditions of so-called Kashmiriyat and Hindu-Muslim brotherhood!

14th September 1989 saw the gunning down of Sh Tika Lal Taploo, a beloved leader of Kashmiri Pundits. Ironically, one of the biggest promoters of brotherhood with the majority community of Kashmir! Next few months witnessed gruesome killing and torturous deaths of the minority Kashmiri Pundit community members. Some were cut to pieces in saw mills, some were tortured to death by being pierced with cigarette butts, some were hanged from trees, some were urinated upon while they were dying, some were raped and strangled to death, and many more barbaric ways. This period saw announcements from local mosques declaring Kashmiri Pundit men folk to leave the valley and leave their women folk behind! Announcements in newspapers, and so-called hit-lists pasted outside the homes of the minority community, reflected the same terror! I don’t think a bigger lawless situation has been witnessed in our country ever.

19th Jan 1990 was the fateful night when majority of the Pundit families left the valley in the dead of the night, to provide security to their kith and kin. And, till date they are waiting for their Government to provide them the first basic right of secure life in their own homeland!

And, 20 years since then, the spokesperson of the ruling party claims that the community left the valley because of “fear psychosis of Governor Jagmohan”! Even if the whole community was so dumb to have chosen to live a life of refugees in their own country on basis of fear psychosis of one man, what was the state and central Government doing? Congress was in power in both state and centre! What steps did any of the two Governments take to not let a complete community leave their homes? Was it secular to let Hindus in the valley, who are a minority there, take refuge out of the valley?

What should the Kashmiri Pundit community do?

• Get on the roads and make a hue and cry about the statement of Manish Tewari. Force him to apologize to the community?
• Take the comment in their stride and keep absorbing all their frustration. Go on with their lives and forget Kashmir for ever. Let the community go extinct in near future?
• Prop up their efforts of highlighting their plight and counter such remarks by getting the Indian, and the world, civil society engaged in the discussions on how to provide justice to the community?

I am not sure which path would the various community organizations take. Meanwhile, here is wishing Manish Tewari good health - “Get well soon, Mamu!”

The kings of democracy

When the idea of democracy was born, it was envisaged as the ultimate governance, where every individual would have equal rights and the world would be a better place to live. Instead of the rule of muscle, people would choose who would form the laws, who would ensure that right policies are in place so that the people get the best life possible and are able to live without fear or subjugation.

People needed leaders amongst them to form their voice and make sure the state machinery is run efficiently so that the state makes progress and there is development for all.

These leaders were supposed to come up with policies and promises, and the people would then choose which leader is best suited to serve their interests.

However, when these leaders are elected, they get power – power to control the state, power to control finances, power to control the lives of the people. And, when one tastes power, they never want to part with it. They become corrupt. Interests of the people become too irrelevant (the same interests that they are supposed to protect).

The present day leaders/politicians no longer have the welfare of people in mind, it is all about power now. They live like kings. The moment someone gets elected to some Government office (MLA, MLC, MP, etc), their wealth starts multiplying. How do the politicians get so wealthy that almost all of them have wealth in crores?

These politicians are supposed to be the representatives of the people. But, how accessible are they? Especially if they are in power! And, when you do get a chance to meet any of them, they have so much air about them. One gets a feeling as if one is meeting a king! And, all the office staff – PA, clerk, security – everybody is so very ill mannered too. Why should they have the power? How different  are they from the emperors of the past? Just that they have to keep a guise on top of them!

And, we have heard so many cases of politicians misusing their power – slapping people, delaying flights, even making trains stop at stations where they are not supposed to stop! The list is long. We have so many accusations of politicians even getting people tortured and killed if they do not meet their demands! And, they are supposed to represent us and work for our welfare!!!

Common man like me has so many grievances about the state of democracy in India, that it will take ages to pen everything down. I will stop here – coming up next would be thoughts on why Indian democracy is a farce! It is better than many other countries, but it still isn’t real democracy!

Get fame on anyone’s expense – Rahul Bhatt case

I am not a great fan of Mahesh Bhatt’s ideology and his thought process. On many occasions I have not agreed to his views. As he adds years to his life, I feel he keeps making irrational statements. But, this is one time when I empathize with him. He, and his family, have become the latest victims of the typical shortcut to two minutes of fame.

Some unknown party in Gujrat, vandalized a theatre that was playing a Mahesh Bhatt movie – Tum Mile. Reason? Well, the party (MGP) claims that Rahul Bhatt (Mahesh Bhatt’s son) is a traitor and he is hand in gloves with David Headley – the accused terrorist for plotting the Mumbai carnage on 26th November 2008.

Time and again we have seen such parties, like MGP, trying to get some amount of fame by creating ruckus over any issue that might have a hint of igniting any passion in India. In this case, MGP is trying to evoke nationalism and get some visibility.

However, there are multiple things wrong here:

1. There is no conclusion that Rahul Bhatt was an associate of David Headley, hence there is absolutely no way someone can start accusing him, or his family

2. From whatever transcripts of David Headley’s emails have been released, all references to Rahul Bhatt seem like a code word to refer to Mumbai

3. Vandalising theatres and other property is an un-tolerable offence, a clear criminal act

4. As the Bhatt’s put it, there are so many important people who couldn’t figure out that David Headley was a terrorist – Pritish Nandy (promoter of Moksh Gym where David Headley was a member), Indian embassy that provided visa to David Headley, the people who let out office space to him, and so on. If no one is blaming them, why single out Rahul Bhatt?

There can be lot of arguments on this issue. Bottom line is that no one has the right to destroy any property and commit acts of vandalism. These people bring shame to our country! My head hangs in shame!

Thoughts and wishes

Like anybody else, I have thoughts on almost all topics under the sun. These are thoughts that keep taking all the lonely space in my mind. Whenever I am alone, my mind keeps picking up topics, and churns thought after thought. I yearn to give vent to these thoughts. The concept of blogging is a God-sent avenue for me to be able to ease out my mind and relieve my soul of these very thoughts.

 

At times, I also wish, just as all other people. I wish for lots of things. I hope I will be able to articulate these wishes and share them with whoever might reach my blog by chance. If you are reading my blog, expect to read my thoughts, and my wishes. Hope some of these thoughts make some difference to the society, and some of my wishes come true so that we get a better world to live in :)