There is much hue and cry in India since Narendra Modi came into power. There have been many voices who have talked against intolerance and fascism of present regime from politicians, film personalities, farmers to common man. Recently, famous Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan chipped in with his voice. He tweeted For the late six to eight months there has been a growing despondency. I would say my wife Kiran Rao and I have lived all our life in IndIa. When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, for the the first she said, Should we move out of India?Now this is a big and disastrous and a big comment to make.
This is what a top celebrity of India feels and it also comes from his wife who is a Hindu. What will be common man especially minorities feeling?
This is of special resonance in Kashmir. In J&K PDP is in power with BJP.PDP played vote bank against communal BJP and unfortunately for power entered into a coalition with them later .There seems to be big difference when PDP was in power with Congress from 2002-8on t all fronts. Mehbooba Mufti in March 2002 in a press conference said Militants dont need to pick guns now because there voice is in Assembly now(GK Artice of Adv. AG Noorani). In 2008 during a youth convention, she said Kashmir has been ruled by New Delhi since 1947,Lets stop ruling them and rule ourselves(GK Article Adv AG Noorani). Fast forward a decade or so. Mehbooba Mufti said in parliament that Hindus are most tolerant. Now PDP is contradicting its own statements for power. They have betrayed Kashmiris. They have faced internal leadership crisis for entering into a coalition with the BJP. Top PDP leaders like Tariq Karra and few others also are not happy with present coalition. Recently Youth leader Waheed Para also supported and praised RSS, BJP and Narindra Modi in media.He even talked bad about JKLF and Its chief Yaseen Malik. He said he is frustrated and doesnt represent anyone in Kashmir.But everyone knows JKLF represents large faction of people in Kashmir. All in all the coalition is defined by many contradictions and is in the nature of a power political combination.
The BJP has an agenda which pertains to its ideology and touches all domains. Here are two major critical domains.
Saffronising education
BJP has been always good at distorting facts. They have always tried to safronise education. The term saffronisation was coined by progressive, intellectual Historians to criticize the policy of M.M Joshi when he was minister in Vajpayee Government. Serious changes were made in the curriculum of History books. Dina Nath Batra is known to play key role in the saffronisation of NCERT books(Nelofer Sahawady-Image and Substance).Present HRD minister is also trying to saffronise education .In senior Journalist Hassan Saroors words, Irani is, in effect, picking where he(Joshi) left. Rao, a historian infamous for his anti Muslim sentiments, was appointed chairman of Indian Council of Historical(ICHR). Raos first move was disbanding the advisory committee of the Councils international journal, The Indian Historical Review. The committee included prominent Historians such as ROmila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Richard Eaton, Muzzaffar Alam and Satish Chandra. Later, in protest against Raos inclusion the journals editor S Battacharya renowned historian resigned in protest. In Maharashtra they tried to ban Madrasas, while in India RSS is running around 40000 schools having 40 lakh students.
Beef Controversy
India is the worlds second largest exporter and second largest consumer of beef having Hindu majority population and beef eaters and in recent months has become largest exporter of beef. Justice SR Das former Supreme court judge called beef an economical food which poor man can afford.When beef was banned in Maharashtra Minister of State for minority affair Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Those who want to eat beef should go to Pakistan. BJP with the help tried to ban in JK also. On beef controversy valley was tense and Zahid was killed in Udhampore by goons.
Conclusion: All of the above including, calling Nathuram Godse a patriot, ,yoga day celebration which is in the Hindutva ideology of the BJP suggests that the BJP wants to implement it. This is their real agenda. In the words of eminent Indian writer and academician Shamsul Islam NDA has become the Non Democracy Alliance, National Demolition Alliance, and National Disaster Alliance.
In light of all this, I request PDP to kindly rethink about coalition as they failed to deliver what they promised.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
