The rhetoric and the narrative

Shiban Khaibri
” If you do not fight this righteous war , then you will fail in your duty;
lose your reputation and incur sin ……….” (The Holy Gita)
No battle, no fight, no confrontation but a pointed war needs to be fought against terror. This war has now been necessitated as, for the last over four decades, we in India, have been reeling under the bloody terror – sponsored , promoted , funded, indoctrinated and prompted by Pakistan. Right from its birth from out of its parent country, it has been vigorously pursuing one and only one agenda – that of hostility , animosity and hatred against India and against Hindus . In fact, the very basis , the very ground and the very purpose of getting a separate country carved out of India was hatred for Hindus and hence total exclusiveness as propounded theoretically and conceptualised by Syed Ahmed Khan, attired intellectually by poet Iqbal and given practical shape by Jinah. Let the facts be known and told, no qualms about that. An entire ethnic community comprising over 5 lakhs are living a life of internally displaced people , scattered and un-assured , on account of being hounded out from Kashmir with their roots of 5300 years, only due to the mechanisations and stitching of such jihadi conspiracies by Pakistan . Those conspiracies and designs do not stop even now in that any step , any scheme and even any effort to arrange rehabilitate Kashmiri Hindus back in their birthplace is scuttled by diabolically crafted terror agenda in order to plant fear in them and thus thwart every attempt of government towards that end. The intricacies of waging a terror war – a proxy war – are in the shape of a cowardly illusive enemy ,hitting and running and never fighting in the open as it is assured of its defeat full of humiliation and ignominy hence an obloquy beyond limits. Terrorists are trained in various ways , one of them is taking recourse to lies and deception , according legitimacy to canards and false accusations, exploiting religious feelings and preaching hard core fundamentalism and playing victimhood as a result of (manufactured) excesses perpetrated by the government and its various wings. Peculiar type of propagandist literature , hateful rhetoric ,religious references etc to justify the terror actions and the like are their other weapons in addition to the usual ones to thrust their ”view point” and for non-compliance award instantaneous ”punishments” . As if these all are any less, opportunist pseudo secular politicians instead of openly opposing them are doing the obverse and thus oxygen to their already charged and a diseased mindset is provided . They fuel their narrative and provide enough alibi to them to kill and kill ruthlessly.
Recent selective killings of people in Kashmir belonging to minority communities including the poor non- Kashmiri labourers and street vendors not only shows that Pakistan was more actively pursuing Jehadi agenda as its state policy against this country and against Hindus in particular but it had put too much of stakes in keeping Jehadi terrorism alive in the vain and elusive hope of pressurising India on Kashmir. It does not let this part of the country and the people live a normal, peaceful and tension free life, albeit its sponsored terrorism. Killing poor labourers who eke out their living on the basis of ”earn daily and eat daily” and who have, with the sweat of their brow, contributed extensively to the development and progress of Kashmir – be it they being engaged in agricultural activities , in building construction, in brick kilns , in factories and homes as plumbers, electricians, masons , carpenters, painters and what not, are now targeted . Local labour is virtually unavailable except during harsh winter months, that too not in Kashmir but generally in plains of the country where they move for better prospects and assured security.
Just recall when Rahul Gandhi in early August 2009 had told Timothy Roemer, the US ambassador – that the biggest threat to India is from the radicalised Hindu extremist Groups which create religious tensions …” This got “revealed” as Rahul Gandhi in a “candid conversation” with Timothy Roemer had shared with him this ”big find” at a dinner in New Delhi hosted by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . In an addendum while referring to Rahul Gandhi , Roemer quoted him as having told that “tensions were created ( in India) by some of the more polarising figures in the BJP such as Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi.” The fact that he expressed his ”considered” views to a foreign dignitary points not only the manufactured and imaginary fears deliberately floated against Hindus but even giving clean chit to some top terror outfits about whom the US Ambassador had made a serious mention of.
Not only that, on his visit to Srinagar on August 10 Rahul Ji had said, ”Jammu and Kashmir is under direct assault from New Delhi and people are deeply hurt.” He further went on, ”Concept of India and its very constitution is under attack, elsewhere it is happening ” indirectly ”but Jammu and Kashmir is under the ”direct assault” of New Delhi.” It is not known what actually he means by “concept of India” as perhaps he also knows not what he meant by ”direct assault” . It is this type of creating fears and spreading a false portrayal and a manufactured recount that feeds the narrative of anti India elements, secessionists and also terrorists . He did not stop at just that , he went on, “If you show love and respect to the people of Jammu and Kashmir , anything can be done but “they” are showing hatred, violence with no respect ….” “They are attacking every institution of the country , the press is under attack , they are being intimidated and not “allowed;” to write what the truth is”….I know people of Jammu and Kashmir are hurt”. Tracing his ancestry in Kashmir , “we used to live here in Kashmir”. How much truth is in all these assertions especially spoken immediately after his visiting one of the most revered ancient shrines the Kheeshir Bhawani Temple in village Tulmull in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district . His saying that “Kashmiriyat” is deep-rooted in the foundation of India ” is beyond comprehension and only known to him, how. Such a narrative coupled with tirade against the present dispensation like “I will continue to fight Narendra Modi and his divisive policies and will defeat him ” is not as simple as it looks and how his speech in Srinagar was going to discourage the terror and related violence is the moot question. Such narrative , such provocative and emotion stirring rhetoric was helping and fuelling the narrative of Pakistan and its terror policy against this country and its stand on Kashmir when ex-President of Congress certifies that Jammu and Kashmir was under ”direct assault from New Delhi”.
He can go to Hathras , to Lakhimpur -Kheri etc on a political and vote securing tourism but not to the bereaved family of Gole Gappie street vendor Paswan – a poor Dalit Hindu killed in Kashmir by terrorists not to speak of his own “co- gotra” Kashiri Pandit Makhan Lal killed similarly and other innocents including a female teacher, yet he claims that “we used to live here in Kashmir “.
The fact that immediately after abrogation of the temporary natured Article 370 , a comparative calm and returning to normal activities sans any frequent ”Hartals” had progressively ascended in Kashmir although sporadic terror related violent acts were taking places including hitting soft targets but it will be widely agreed that looking to the vast development having taken place over the past few years , more or less, wider sections of the Kashmiri society did not show any type of resentment against scrapping of the vexatious Article even if the move was not widely welcome also but those who had warned that there would be none to ”give a shoulder” to the tricolour was not only proved a figment of imagination but this year more people braved all possible threats and after decades tricolours were seen unfurled and held high in hands. If the fear of none to lift the tricolour was momentary , let the unfurling it and holding in hands too be momentary , hence the Balance Sheet agreeing on both sides.
The fact of the matter is that irresponsible and baseless statements given by many political leaders in the burst of letting a feel given that whatever the government was doing was wrong to the extent of casting aspersions even in fighting the persistent threat of terrorism was tantamount to emboldening the spirits of terrorists and feeding them with what narrative they put forth in respect of justifying killing of innocent , unarmed people and speaking not a word against the scourge but naming the top among them even with prefixes and suffixes of ”Ji” and “Sahib” smacks of political bankruptcy. Political leaders of all hues have seriously to review and revise their stand , now, on the threatening scourge, the alternative is not a riddle to answer.

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