Saturday, 22 February 2020

Towards ‘Welfare State’ Or ‘Grama Swarajya’?

What is a welfare state?
A welfare state is one which cares for its people by giving direct basic needs. The Government schemes which distribute the needs directly to the people are towards creating a welfare state. Anna Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya, schemes of Karnataka Government, Gas Distribution, Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) from the central government etc., are typical examples of such schemes towards direct benefit to the people. But for this to sustain in the long run, state has to develop long term strategies to generate continuous revenue.

What is Grama Swarajya?
Grama Swarajya is where the Governance is at the grass root level. The state doesn’t give anything directly. Instead the state gives freedom to the people to utilize resources. It protects their right over their resources. They have right over their hills, lands, rivers, lakes, roads, grass lands, desert, forests, plain lands, etc., Whatever they have in their surroundings belong to them. It doesn’t belong to any private individual. The state authorizes village to utilize the resources for their consumption and needs. But for that the villages & blocks of villages, have to organize themselves and protect as well as consume sensibly without warring over each other.  

But this is at the outset. Each has its share of complications and challenges. Lets understand a bit of the history of both first, before we get into the challenges and solutions.

Origin of these types of Governance

Origin of Welfare State:
The Welfare state concept originated in Europe in the industrialization periods of 17th 18th century. Industrialization lead to jobs concentration in urban clusters. It lead to mass and fast production. It gave jobs to able bodied persons. Less able persons, aged, women etc., were disadvantaged. It created joblessness.

The governance was moving towards democracy in Europe. Democracy needs people support. So the governance started doling out benefits to the less abled, needy. The mass production enabled good tax collections. So it afforded doling out benefits. It also was needed to spur the consumerism from the mass production of industries.

Communism was another type of governance gaining ground in Europe. It also favoured state control over production & distribution. It went to the extreme of state control over all resources including people. People lost independence. But they were guaranteed food, shelter, water and basic needs through welfare state system.

Origin of Grama Swarajya:

Grama Swarajya is as old if not older than Rama Rajya. In order for the sustainable utilization of the resources of the surroundings, the villages had to organize themselves. Varna system was a natural organization of the society.

The large population was the Shudra community – farmers, artisans, sweepers, construction workers, producers – metals, jewelry, ornaments, leather, utensils, agri implements, wood cutters, carpenters, etc., etc., Basically all producers of different needs of the society.

Then the trader community – Vaishyas – They controlled supply chain. Collection, Storage, distribution, transportation & sale. Reaching the end consumer of the produce is the responsibility of the Vaishyas.

Kshatriyas – The warriors, protectors of freedom – There was no Jati or caste of this tribe. All villages didn’t have this tribe. Standing army was needed in capitals & forts, atop hills & vantage points. These people were from the dominant community of that locality from any of the other Varnas. They raised from the grass root level. The churn of the rulers always happened continuously in India. The ruling changed hands according to the raise of mutiny against an unjust, incapable ruler. A just leader usually organized and revolted and established a just kingdom.

The last community, Brahmins, were a minority. They gave the idea of how to organize, how to sustainably consume the resources, how to set up governance for equity distribution of the rights over resources. They studied stars & planets for rain prediction. They studied plants for medicinal benefits. They studied society & suggested legislation for societal order. But the maintenance of the societal order was Kshatriya & rulers responsibilities. Almost every village had Brahmins. They were mostly the custodians of temples. Temples were spiritual centres. It also doubled as gathering place for bhajans & bringing unity amongst the diverse villagers. It also was centre for panchayati, the dispute resolving, decision making body. It was centre for schooling & education, medicine distribution etc.,  

Failures of these types of Governance

Challenges for Welfare state:

Simple challenge for the welfare state is the balance sheet maintenance year on year. The industrialization has heavy toll on limited resources. Industry tumbles after the resource is exhausted in an area. Then people are left high & dry. But they are used to their freebies & vote to the freebies only. So government develops heavy complex machinery for Food Distribution, Water distribution, Employment Generation, Primary education, Healthcare etc.,

Some area produces rice; then it has to get distributed to thousands of kilometers. For example, the wheat comes through complex PDS system from Punjab to Karnataka. This kind of massive transportation of staple food grains was never there in India. If not every village, but at least every block of villages were self sustained in staple food at least if not exotic foods also of their own.

Even water is being lifted by the government from Yettinahole in Dakshina Kannada to Devarayanadurga in Tumkur and then distribute it to Chikkaballapur, Tumkur, Kolar districts. Ancient times, every village existed only due to availability of sustainable water source. But then self governance died slowly. Government gave industries free water. They polluted it & dried it. Then they packed off from there to another area to exploit.  

In a small country when the industries exhaust all exploitable areas, then the country goes bankrupt. The people are used to freebies. They don’t understand what the meaning of country going bankrupt. They start looting & arson. The country goes to civil war from bankruptcy.

Venezuela got into such a spiral out of control of these direct benefit schemes recently. Greece is another one that often goes bankrupt. But since it is European country, they project it as global crisis and call IMF to dole them out. Asia, Africa are still to get used to this new game of Europeans projecting their problem as global crisis. Zimbabwe got into hyperinflation a decade back and is yet to come out of it with no light at the end of the tunnel.

In big countries like US, & most European countries, the policy makers still believe in Welfare State concept. Never attempting to curtail. In most European countries now, most mineal jobs are done by immigrants. The immigrants are not assimilating. And almost every European country is staring at an imminent civil war in the coming years.  


Challenges for Grama Swarajya:

The Grama Swarajya collapsed with the advent of British. The sheer bruteness, cunningness, corrupting the existing system was a heavy jolt to the people of India.

The Kshatra failed to protect the system. Through corruption, brutal force, weapons of mass destruction on humans (canons) they destroyed the armies. Through doctrine of lapse they stripped kings off their ruling. After the British successfully quelled their upraising, they kept kings and stripped their armies and armaments. So the kingdoms became princely states with no power. British corrupted them to stay indulgent and ignore the rural upraising, unrest. Then they successfully propagated that kings were self indulgent. Even the modern politicians like Gandhi believed it and didn’t have such high regard for the kings. Also Congress was created by British as a safety valve, as an alternate peoples representation to the kings. So they could ignore kings fully and focus on developing softies in Congress as the real people of India.  

The loot of our resources left the Shudras in abject poverty. Forests & hills denuded indiscriminately. The dependent artisans had no clue what to do. Who to complain to. Raja was powerless. The temples which were centre for delivering governance, order, were stripped off their self funding. Then they divided the society and spread propaganda that Varna system created jati system and that is the root cause of their poverty, ignorance etc.,

Our Kshatra & our education system didn’t equip our society to expect this kind of atrocity, attack on our people, resources, culture all at once. We still continue to be under attack. Still we live in ignorance.

Where do we stand now? What lies ahead?

India is at cross roads now. We at least have legacy of Grama Swarajya, the Idea of Rama Rajya. It still alive in some minds and literature at least. However, boldly India introduced the Panchayati Raj almost 30 years ago. And it has made many strides. It is implemented in all states even including Jammu & Kashmir. Is it perfect? No; far from it. But has it made progress towards self governance? Definitely yes.

Its success lies in the people’s coming together and joining hands for self governance. Most importantly they organizing themselves and asserting their rights over their surroundings, environments, wealth etc., Asserting rights is one thing, but more importantly organizing themselves to maintain it, harnessing it, sharing it amongst themselves without discrimination.

Now, organizing doesn’t necessarily mean bringing back the caste system. But the society has to be organized. Swami Vivekananda famously said, that the Varna System is not religious but it is just there as part of any Organized society. We must acknowledge that, Someone will be Brain, Some will be the tiller, toiler, Some will be protector of rights to keep law & order, someone will be a storer & a trader. It may not necessarily be by the caste. But anyone can play any of these roles.

But what of the current subsidies & freebies from the welfare state concept? It will not go away suddenly. Majority are happy to receive and live on it. Government is still auctioning hills, rivers and ponds to individual tycoons to extract minerals, coke factory, fertilizer factory etc.,

Majority people will be pacified with compensation, subsidies, freebies. They basically sell their soul to few individuals to loot their wealth.

People have to Organize and push it all out. Like the way in 80’s how America pushed it all out due to series of litigation by the enlightened Citizens.

Will it happen here? Now? People are angry. They want to push out factories. But after pushing out what? Will they organize to harness their wealth for healthy simple living with equity distribution? Or will few people give in and join industrial tycoons to rule the roost in that block?

Time will only tell. But definitely some awakening is happening. Slowly but steadily

Friday, 3 January 2020

Leaderless Kashmir (When goons are restrained)


Not a single bullet fired since Aug 5

No terrorism incidents nor incursions

Normal people busy with their normal life

100% attendance in Class X Board Exams
99.5% for Class XII

Huge turn out for army recruitment in erstwhile
troubled Kashmir districts itself

6000 people come & cheer for Real Kashmir Football club while 2000 tickets were sold








Saturday, 23 November 2019

Print Media on JNU Protests


The threat to the idea of a public university
Avijit Pathak is Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
20 Nov 2019 – The Hindu

JNU, truly national

Chandan Yadav is a former JNU student and currently Secretary, All India Congress Committee
21 Nov 2019 – The Hindu

Should we do away with subsidies for higher education?

Inclusiveness and equity are very important characteristics of a good public institution.
Yoginder K. Alagh is an economist and former Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University; Shyam Menon is a Professor at the Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi and former Vice-Chancellor, Ambedkar University
22 Nov 2019 – The Hindu



Police Round Up Students in India's Capital as Fee Protests Grow

By Reuters
Writing by Zeba Siddiqui
NY Times on 18 Nov 2019


The Age of Authoritarianism
Why the rage at JNU?
These days, our public universities are surrounded by police, show cause notices and charge-sheets, and the intellectual poverty of petty administrators
Avijit Pathak
(The writer is Professor of Sociology, JNU)    
Deccan Herald – 14 Nov 2019
But then, it is sad to see the role of our administrators. They have ceased to be teachers and communicators. There is no trace of Paulo Freire or M K Gandhi in their deserted souls. As they see every act of resistance as a ‘law and order’ problem, they miss the opportunity to enter the inner world of young minds: their academic aspirations amid societal pressures, their quest for self-actualization amid the tyranny of authoritarian personalities,


Malaise in higher education: The JNU Protest
Bhaskar Kumar, Prannv Dhawan, (The writers are students of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru) 
Deccan Herald - NOV 21 2019




JNU doesn’t take things lying down
Deccan Herald Editorial – 16 Nov 2019



Stop bullying the JNU students


Pritish Nandy
– Nov 20, 2019, Times of India


The Bid To Unmake JNU

60% of those admitted in 2018-19 were SC/ST/OBC; 40% were from families earning under Rs 12,000 p.m.

India Today – 22 Nov 2019
-Sucharita Sen is a professor at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, JNU.



Ironies and barricades: How between JNU and BHU, we see the brutal distance that separates us as a nation

Written by Saikat Majumdar |
Indian Express – 22 Nov 2019
Majumdar, author of ‘The Firebird’, teaches world literature at Stanford University, US


Written by Parnal Chirmuley
Indian Express – 21 Nov 2019
The writer is associate professor, Centre of German Studies, JNU



Print Media Opinions, Op-Eds, Editorials - Whats Missing?


All the above i have pasted are NOT the News Headlines. They are Opinions, Op-EDs and Editorials. Much of them are authored by the JNU professors. Some of them non-JNU but carrying same opinion. 

I went through every one of them. They all are same. There is no counter opinion at all. "The Hindu" carries a debate among 3 professors. But pretty much no divergent views at all. And by the way, they all say, Government is stifling their voice!!! 

The ENGLISH PRINT MEDIA is so opinionated that it is quite scary. The Hindu for example is carrying every day opinion on this subject steadfastly. It is giving so much importance to this protest that nothing else is of such national importance!  

Casually checking around urban English speaking middle class, very few people read these opinions. They are highly influenced by what they get in their Whatsapp and Facebook more than these English Print Media opinions. And even most of the English daily readers are also not in support of the violent protests by the JNU despite reading these articles. 


It looks like, that the hooligan students of JNU create ruckus. Then the Professors write sophisticated English articles for all the leading English Dailies and Weeklies about their right to protest. Some guy even quotes, MK Gandhi is being missed. They paint the administrators as tyrants with no heart. They do not utter a word about the hooliganism of students upon administrators, police and authorities. 

These are articles completely avoid talking of: 
- Students detaining in-humanly an asst. professor for a full day
- Students desecrating Swami Vivekananda Statue in the campus
- Their disruption to normalcy & traffic on main roads of Delhi
- Students heckling the minister visiting

MK Gandhi did hunger strike. Why dont these poor students take up to hunger strike? If not hunger strike at least silent strike?!

Despite being such violent students how are they getting so much media space & sympathy? Despite Social Media being so much against them, why English print media is steadfastly behind them? Isn't it run by economics of readership? OR is there a parallel economics for the Print Media?





Sunday, 10 November 2019

Meghalaya – An Empowered State

Meghalaya is the first state usually people choose to go to when they plan to do the North East India tourism. Its easy approach, connectivity, friendly people, tourism friendly infrastructure makes it an ideal destination.

And our Gangu made it even more easy as he specializes NE tourism for South Indians! He is my college friend. He packaged the entire tour for us. He visited us before, understood our requirement and planned based on that. Especially we visited places less crowded but pristine & natural. He specializes in unexplored places.

Meghalaya is south of Assam and comes before the mighty Brahmaputra. It may be a reason for easy access. However, it is hilly. Not all parts of the state is open for tourism. There is much to explore in the areas open for tourism itself. Many places we visited hardly had any crowd. Much details of tourism with album and video is given in this blog. But I was especially intrigued by the society, its structure, their culture & how they have protected it despite rampant faith conversions. It is a unique experience for me to be touring in a state in India yet no pilgrim centre, no connect to Hindu mythology, no mutt, no temple, yet the people are thoroughly Indian & I can easily connect with them culturally.


The Tour

The tour photos and albums are below:

Video showing how to get to the Double Decker Live Root Bridge; and why it is built
Video showing the engineering marvel of Living Root Bridge
Album of Photos


Following was our brief 6 day itinerary:

Date
Tour Details
2-Oct
Landed in Guwahati, direct flight from BLR to GAU thanks to UDAN Scheme by Modi ji, now aam janata can fly to many tourist places easily in India.
Covered Kamakya temple in Guwahati. It was well decked like a bride on the occasion of Navrathri.
Then drove down to Shillong and rested there
3-Oct
Shillong to Chirrapunji driving down south.
Following Covered:
Mawphlang Sacred Forest - one of 100s of such sacred forest maintained by Khasi tribe as God
Mawkdok Dympep view point with Khasi dressing - Amazing View of clouds, valleys, falls, pristine forest
Nohkalikai Falls - India's Longest single drop falls; We can see clouds forming out of its droplets and floating away
4-Oct
Covered:
1. Arwah caves - Very deep and long; Kids had a lot to learn and get amazed. Fossils, streams running down, Unique formations, absolute darkness, complex diversions, low clearing, very high clearing;
2. Garden of Caves - Many falls and caves; Well maintained, tourist friendly, safe and fun
3. Wei Saw Dont Falls (3 tier falls) - Small trek down tough trail. Beautiful falls, mildly adventorous to reach; absolute fun to play in waters; no crowd
4. Dianthlen Falls - Milky waterfalls in the moon light. Beautiful view; We cross just over a pool that makes this falls to go to the view point. Then wonder how that small pool made such a magnificient falls
5-Oct
Jenailar Falls - View from far
Lyngksiar Falls - Pristine blue waters, everyone played in waters, trek to the falls is through slush & grassland; Great adventure and fun; No crowd in the midst of forest
Mawsmai Caves - Popular tourist spot. Lot of crowd. Amazing formations of Stalactite & stalagmite over many millenia.
6-Oct
We split as groups. One group went to treck down to the worlds only double decker live root bridge. It is about 3000 steps down and climb up. Not for the faint hearted
Other group went to Bangla Boarder & covered Mawlynnong - asia's cleanest village; As such every village, town, hotels are clean; Locals there are extremely cleanliness conscious people
7-Oct
Headed back from Chirrapunji to Guwahati.
Covered Umiam Lake in Shillong;
Visited Umananda temple in river island of Brahmaputra. Touched the great waters and felt blessed.
Caught flight back to BLR


The People – Empowered Administration

The people are very friendly and soft spoken. They are comfortable with English. When we visited the sacred forest the guide was a local Khasi Christian. He explained that the stone erects inside and outside of the forest are their ancestors memorials. Now they don’t follow that tradition. However, they protect the forests as gods. It is the duty of the community youth to protect it. They don’t allow anyone to take anything from these community protected forest areas. Even a fallen leaf is attractive for us to pick and bring home as souvenir but are disallowed by those ever vigilant young guardians of their GOD! Even those who are Christian converts follow that tradition.

In the administration, although they have embraced elections, MLA, MP, etc., they do have kings & kingdom concepts carried forward from their ancestry. But they are more complementary and not conflicting. The government helps in infrastructure viz., roads, schools, hospitals, administration etc.,

The businesses and industries however have to be cleared by the local chiefs. That way people are fully empowered. The local chief’s decisions are weighed upon by the people’s welfare and impact. That is why you don’t see too much nature exploitation, big industries, factories, large scale mining in the state. Hope it remains so. However small scale rat hole mining by locals can be seen ( may be supported by the local chief). Tourism is flourishing. Still has great potential to grow there. In every business set up the locals get preference. If a local wants to set up a business in a town or a tourist place, he will be cleared.  If a non-local wants to set up a business, he will be asked to get clearance from his locality, why is not able to set up business there. That way they keep a healthy competition to provide their youth opportunities locally. The kings are obligated to provide freedom & empowerment to youth. Else they have a king waiting in line to topple him in the same locality through peaceful ‘selection’.

One of our local guide was the last one of his 10 siblings. All of them & their spouses are locally employed in various ways. He was a non-converted Khasi. He said there would be inter marriages amongst their converted and non-converted khasi tribes. The mother of the bride decide what tradition to follow usually. In their society the mother is dominant and decides the lineage, property rights etc., I asked him if the converted Christians tell them to discard their rituals and god. He said, the general people are good and don’t bother much, but he particularly dislikes the pastors as they are overbearing upon them and their freedom.

The statistics say majority as Christians. I could see every other corner had a big church, but i hardly saw them open. People said they run away from pastors. There is a very big Ramakrishna mission school and is rated the best in that region. Few other Christian schools also running full. Nobody had any bearing of any religion on his or her appearance, be it Khasi, Christian or any others. They are just happy & content people who know their destiny is just to be there and enjoy the nature and its beauty. God bless them and let them have strength to withstand the outside world’s lure. 


Sunday, 11 August 2019

Did Kashmiri Hindu Genocide happen by Design?


Now that the article 370 & along with that the draconian article 35A are abrogated by a bold move by the Narendra Modi government, it is a celebration for entire India. Kashmir Muslims in small number are rejoicing, but a large section is yet to realize the fruits of freedom. Surely soon they will start realizing it and embrace it. The 3 families – Abdullas, Muftis and Geelanis are the only mourners. Of course, some sympathizers of those families across India are also hurt.

The real jubilation is amongst the Kashmiri Hindus, although it may take more time for normalcy to settle for their return to their ancestral land. They have gone through the worst. India is with them. Concerted and continuous efforts to give them dignity and independence is yielding now. One day they will become legislators, judges, and head of institutions in their own land. India is with them.

It is important to know the history of the Kashmiri Hindu Genocide in the recent history.


Did the Exodus happen by Design?  


The Islamic Fundamentalism started it all:
The over appeasement of the JKLF and various separatist groups by Farooq Abdulla, the then chief minister of the state of J&K in the 1987 time frame started emboldening the militants. What started as a Liberation movement for J&K slowly morphed into Islamic Caliphate. Different groups including Hizbul Mujahideen supported and incited by the Pakistan formed Muslim United Front, which is now called as Hurriyat Conference. Their common enemy became India, Central government, Security forces, Kashmiri Hindus. The Kashmiri Hindus became easy and plum targets. The first victim was Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, who was an advocate and a BJP member. The terrorists murdered him in his home in Srinagar. After that Nilkanth Ganjoo, Srinagar High Court Judge was shot dead. These happened in succession in 1989 sending fears amongst the Kashmiri Hindus as they were targeted by the terrorists.  

Then the politics played its part.
-          Mufti Mohammad Sayeed fell out with Farooq Abdulla who was in alliance with Rajiv Gandhi’s INC. Mufti won MP elections and became the first Muslim Union Home Minister in VP Singh Cabinet
-          2nd Dec 1989 he becomes Union Home Minister. 8th Dec his daughter was kidnapped and released on 13th Dec just in 2hrs after the terrorists were released in exchange. How did she appear from his home in 2hrs after terrorists’ release?
-          Subsequently some more drama of ‘important’ people’s kidnap and terrorists release in exchange happened in a flurry.
-          While all these happened where was Farooq Abdulla? He resigned, as Chief Minister for a petty reason that the Governor appointed was his bete noire. Mufti Sayeed perticulary chose him and VP Singh approved for this reason. So Mufti got full free hand on Kashmir politics through the Governor.

Then the Society & Administration played its part:
-          Terrorists got emboldened. Mosques started giving a call for expelling the Kashmiri Hindus. The local muslim/ urdu news papers called on expulsion of Kashmiri Hindus.
-          The Muslim neighbors were known for their soft Islam. Kashmir was known for its Sufi Kashmiriyat. But they turned hostile. They started alienating Hindus. They stopped shopping with them, stopped visiting them, stopped selling things to them.
-          They bought into the narrative by the mullas and politicians that India is our enemy and Hindus are their agents.
-          The administration didn’t take any action on the murders of Taploo and Nilkanth Ganjoo.
-          The open threat calls in street pamphlets, in news papers were not heeded to by any police. The department shut its eyes and ears for any complains of threat and intimidation on its citizens.
-          The administration played its part with the Mufti, Abdulla and Geelani politics. Nobody cared for any citizen rights and peace

The exodus happened by lakhs. The figures put are anywhere between 2 lakhs to 6 lakhs. The exodus happened by design. Was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed the Architect? Did the others just played their part as per the design?


Where was BJP while Exodus happened?


BJP was busy with the Ramjanmabhoomi agenda. The Advani Ji’s ratha yathra was in full swing. The BJP with its 80+ seats in parliament did not join the National Front of VP Singh in Government. It supported Government from outside. Had it joined, may be Advani Ji would have become Home Minister and this sinister design of Muftis would not have happened. But alas!

BJP did take up the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus on later days. Ektha Yatra of Murli Manohar Joshi in which Narendra Modi also played significant part as a grass root level organizer took up the task of Unfurling the National Flag in Lal Chowk of Srinagar. It created the awareness of the plight of the Hindus as refugees in their own country.

Then the Sangh Pariwar put up concerted efforts to trumpet against the article 370. It was recognized that article 370 was the root of the problems perpetrated. Its draconian design was to keep the Kashmiri’s under duress all the time with no political freedom.

The VHP and others lent a hand for the Hindu refugees to set up their camps and provide shelter. Some of these were activists in AAP storming to power too. Although Prashanth Bhushan the SC advocate & close aide of Kejriwal of AAP, fights for the Kashmiri Muslims, AAP stood by the abrogation of the article 370.


How will abrogation of Article 370 help the Hindus now?


It is not due to Article 370, that the Hindu exodus happened.

The Kashmiri Hindus exodus happened mainly due to the following:
-          Islamic fundamentalism, Kashmiri Muslims paying into the sinister design and
-          The Politics by 3 strong families of the valley
-          Entire India’s apathy towards Kashmir, Jammu & Ladakh

The abrogation of Article 370 addresses only the last reason. It has raised the awareness across India 4 Kashmir. But that can kill the other 2 above reasons as well over time. Firstly, the rest of India will show empathy towards alternative politics. It gives raise to political freedom. Already the victims of terrorism are standing for elections. Some of them through BJP ticket! While BJP is untouchable for the rest of Indian Muslims, nearly 200 Kashmiri Muslims are panchayat presidents in the valley through BJP ticket.

In the 1990s the Hindus were tortured, torched in broad day light. Through the 2000 till now, tens of thousands of honest policeman who tried to capture terrorists were brutally killed. Their families are intimidated. Those youth who go to join terrorism & die are hailed as martyrs, while the policemen who died in the operation are forgotten. In this land of fear and intimidation, imagine someone standing for an election which is boycott by the 3 powerful families in the valley and threat by the terrorist organizations!  Imagine the plight of the family members and friends. Imagine how they campaigned? Which printing press would have dared to print their pamphlets? Who would have opened the BJP office in the valley & run it boldly?

If alternate leaders can come up and give a fitting fight, that’s it, the democracy will be established. The real transfer of power to the people would happen. The Kashmiri Muslims would come out of the clutches of the Islamic Fundamentalism. They would come out of the clutches of the 3 patriarch families.

Then it will lead to the real integration of Kashmir into the principles of freedom & democracy of India. Then integration of Hindus into the valley is just a byproduct.


Relevant Links:


While all the facts and figures are taken from internet, profusely from Wikipedia, the inference and story line is by me. Am particularly inspired by this bold man called – Pushpendra Kulashreshta. He through his NGO has filed PIL about the validity of Article 35A in Supreme court. The verdict was supposed to come in late 2018 itself but was pushed for unknown reasons. The case is still pending for verdict. But now that it is abrogated, passed in parliament more legitimately than it was constituted through only presidential order, it should be an easy case for SC.



Another great gambler in the game is BJP s Ram Madhav. PDP says he is the BJP’s face. NC, Hurriyat and even the Pakistanis say he is the BJP face for them. The foreign media BBC, CNN call him for BJP views and stand on the Kashmir. But he is not the face of BJP cabinet! It is Amit Shah who stole all the lime light & may be rightly so.

RSS has done a great thing. It has formed various forums, NGO s to fight and bring about the Kashmiri plight to end. The J&K Study centre has done a tremendous job of bringing in all constitutional experts, advocates, historians, students, university professors to debate and come up with solution. Abrogration of 370 through a simple presidential order, was widely debated in these forums. It was not a surprise for those who knew the process. But it is the guts of Modi and Shah which was the need of the hour to abrogate it. And they did it! Kudos to India for having such great guns at the helm! Kudos to India to entrust the job to them democratically.


Look at the spike in 1989; Kargil happened in 1999. Pakistan lost face; US put pressure; 9/11 happened in 2001 in US; US asked Pak to support Afghan rout and defocus from Kashmir. Insurgency declined post 2003; Again in 2013-14-15 insurgency raised. Then India did Demonetization; It was a surgical strike on terror funding; Stone pelting stopped. Now it is time to recover complete normalcy.

Another influence is Shefali Vaidya. She in her talks in the India4Kashmir forum has told we must recognize all India's indigenous groups as Hindus. By differentiating our own Hindu brethren as Kashmir Pandits, Kannada Lingayats, Tamil Jalli Kattu Warriors, Ayyappa devotees, we are letting the Secularists, Communists, Islamists and Christians to separate each of us, ridicule and erase our culture easily one by one. I have personally seen Ayyappa Devotees ridiculing VHPs efforts to rebuild Ram temple. I have heard the RSS karyakarthas in UP showing indifference to the Sabarimala issue. It is our disunity which will cause our own downfall. Hence in this article I have referred Kashmiri Hindus as Kashmiri Hindus & not just pandits.