Displaying his party’s true faith in the barrel of the gun and its respect for terrorists, a senior CPIM functionary from the state of Jammu & Kashmir desisted from calling Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani a “terrorist”. CPIM MLA from Kulgam and state secretary of the party in J&K Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami in a statement referred to Wani the terrorist as “Burhan Wani and his associates.” Tarigami did not dare condemn the acts of terrorism indulged in by Wani and his co-terrorist but rather issued a long homily on what action must be taken against security forces in the Valley.In tune with Tarigami, CPIML leader Kavitha Krishnan, forever in a state of war with India, especially if that India happens to be ruled by a dispensation she hates – in this case the BJP – termed the gunning down of terrorist Wani as “extra judicial killing.” These are the types – Tarigami and Krishnan et al– who encourage their cadres to dance and revel at the death of our Jawans and soldiers. When in 2010 Jawans were mowed down by naxals in Chattisgarh, a group of students in JNU, inspired by these ideologies and leaders had organised a celebratory dance. One never hears them condemning terrorism, terrorists and their death dance. Violence fits well into the political ideology that they peddle.
The communists and the naxals and their urban sympathisers have always come out in support of disruptionists. They have always utilised a crisis within the country to push forward their divisive agendas of conflict and hate and have hardly ever come forward with an agenda that seeks to positively address the situation. Through their support of terrorists and terrorism they are clearly working against the interests of a large majority of Kashmiris who aspire to move on and to join the march of prosperity, of possibilities and of opportunities.
These types are also joined by a long line of “illustrious” pseudo-intellectuals who keep arguing that Wani was not so much a terrorist but much more a son of a “headmaster” who was done to death by the Indian security agencies. They never discuss the atrocities and killings that Wani engineered, these are expressions of dissatisfaction, they lamely argue. A certain newspaper, founded in the past by the legendary Ram Nath Goenka, that doyen of nationalist journalism, went so far as to mourn Wani’s death by metamorphosing its facebook page, much like it did in the case of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s hanging in July 2015, when it carried the banner headline, “And they Hanged him.” Clearly its founding goals have long been decimated and the paper itself seems to have lost its way and is often seen standing by those whose single-point and unequivocal aim is to see India dissipated and dissolved. One cannot even protest such reductionism lest one be labelled as a “hyper-nationalist.” The sole “rational” course, in order to be counted as an intellectual, a liberal and sane by these types, is to sit back and applaud those who spit and spite at the very idea of India and work to destabilise and crack her. Some, for example, would even like you to believe how great a philosopher and thinker is Zakir Naik, how deep and genuine his thoughts are and how sacrilegious it is to even doubt his intentions which are based on propagating “peace.” For these types, it does not matter that Naik’s channels have always shown an India minus Kashmir or that his sermons from hell are radicalising and misguiding youth across countries.Our elite and pampered intellectuals and their arm chair supporters in politics mainly of the communist and naxal variety have in fact always revelled at romanticising terror and terrorists. Ensconced in the santinised confines of the national capital or in Ivy League universities abroad, these unaccountable intellectuals, plush with resources and media attention, have always pushed through a world view which is tolerant of terrorism, of ideas that seek to break India, of groups and conglomerates that push the unfulfilled agenda of “Gazwa-e-Hind”, the ultimate destruction of India. Yet their positions against those who condemn terrorism and separatism have been of the most intolerant variety.
Yet so alert are these counterfeit intellectuals that they always make sure to avoid terming a terrorist as a terrorist, they avoid taking these elements head on and when exposed, always hide behind the fig-leaf of human rights and freedom of expression. Among them are those leaders – emerging as the soft faces of separatism – who have started warning that talking to separatists is the only way. In their days at the helm of affairs these very leaders proved most ineffective in addressing the situation in Jammu & Kashmir.It is the support that these so-called leaders, political parties and intellectuals, have given to secessionism in Indian educational institutions that has lead a handful of terrorists in the Valley to challenge the unity and integrity of India. It is their support for calls to break India that has led to fountainheads of terror like Hafiz Saeed and Salahuddin to issue dictates in support of terrorism in Kashmir. Their support to break-India elements within the country have actually encouraged separatists and terrorists within the country and beyond.
The communists and the naxals and their urban sympathisers have always come out in support of disruptionists. They have always utilised a crisis within the country to push forward their divisive agendas of conflict and hate and have hardly ever come forward with an agenda that seeks to positively address the situation. Through their support of terrorists and terrorism they are clearly working against the interests of a large majority of Kashmiris who aspire to move on and to join the march of prosperity, of possibilities and of opportunities. Parties that are trapped in their outdated claptraps can scarcely understand this new aspiration. Prime Minister Modi, in his two years has often visited Kashmir, has directly addressed the people, has launched schemes and initiatives and has always spoken of the need for the people to move ahead in a spirit of aspiration and development. He has always demonstrated in actual action – when he spent Diwali in the Kashmir to be by the side of the flood affected sisters and brothers.
Who are those who are to benefit most from such an affirmative agenda, it is the people of Kashmir. And who are those who are to lose most from such a futuristic agenda full of a humanistic approach, it is the separatists, terrorists and their sympathisers within the country and their masters and sponsors across the border.The situation in Kashmir, the killing of the Hizbul terrorist, Burhan Wani, and Pakistan’s perfidious agenda in that state is also exposing a number of political and intellectual elements within the country who have never had India’s interest at heart; these have never been Indian in mind and spirit. The sooner their agendas are exposed and rejected the better shall it be for the future health of our democracy and our collective aspirations.
(Author is Director, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation)