TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
‘‘Children of a lesser God” has for long been a favourite expression in use in the realms of literary expression. And now, paraphrasing it, ‘‘Daughters of a lesser God” have suddenly come into focus… thanks to the debate regarding the status of women in Jammu & Kashmir triggered by Narendra Modi’s reference in ‘‘Lalkaar” rally followed by instant rebuttals and rejoinders from the Modi baiters. But, for an unassuming student of J&K affairs, the dilemma is that most of the arguments put forth from this side or that side are motivated less by a sound academic logic and more by the objective of seeking to outrightly refute simply because the command is to refute.
The result is that instead of asking the daughters of Jammu & Kashmir, particularly those married outside the State, about what they themselves think of their status, the entire concentration is devoted to save the sensitive State of J&K from the presumed havoc ensuing from, what the opponents describe as, an allegedly divisive statement made by Modi. Divisive indeed… because it runs the risk of drawing a line of division between the State’s Chief Minister and his own sister even as the Chief Minister’s sister has found a new and a rather influential sympathiser in Narendra Modi who can be duly credited for having made the whole nation aware of the injustice meted out to Chief Minister’s sister and at the same also having informed the nation that the name of Chief Minister’s ‘‘lesser’’ sister is Sara.
Another curious aspect of this whole debate is that even as the entire Congress party is trying its best to evade the questions raised by BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the wife of a high profile Union Minister from Congress party has come out openly in support of the crusade unleashed by Modi for the rights of the J&K women who marry men from outside J&K. That even though the lady herself belongs to J&K but is called to pay the price for marrying a man who is no less than a Union Minister but not a J&K resident, is yet another irony of her predicament.
On a serious note, however, what could be a more heart-breaking example of hypocrisy than the fact that the political party which is most vehemently opposing equal rights for the women of J&K, happens to be led by a chief minister who was born as a citizen of United Kingdom to a British mother, opted for an inter-religious marriage to a non-J&K resident and is generally seen as a modern progressive face of Indian politics. But Alas! that is perhaps the price he must pay to survive in what cynics describe as double faced world of Indian politics !
Nevertheless, with rapidly rising levels of public awareness and a countrywide resurgence of feminine pride, the day is certainly not far when the anomaly will correct itself…. and chauvinists will eat a humble pie. The issue is already in court. The debate is already in media domain. The battle lines are drawn to favour the weaker gender. Even if the Kashmir-centric politicians refuse to read it, the common man in Kashmir can clearly read the writing on the wall. Daughters of Kashmir will no longer be daughters of a ‘‘lesser’’ God, if only they heed Umapathy’s reiteration of the clarion call in Kaifi Azmi’s famous poem ‘‘Aurat’’ ‘‘…..Jannat Ek Aur Hai Jo Mard Ke Pahlu Mein Nahin!’’
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