[Reader-list] Dark side of freedom

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

  *Dark side of freedom*   **  *Ashok Pandit*
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It is really sad to see separatists blackmailing the nation that they will
march to Muzaffarabad to weaken India. The very people who control the
levers of our democratic machinery in the Kashmir Valley are those rampaging
on the streets*

As Independence Day dawns on us, one wonders whether our country of more
than one billion people is really independent. Though our nation has had
many successes in the last 61 years, somewhere within a question arises on
the hullabaloo that is created over Independence Day year after year.


 Parliament is the political shrine of the country. But the events during
the recent confidence vote have made me lose confidence in the political
leadership, which claims to rule -- rather than serve -- the country. The
body language of our leaders is more that of dictatorial rulers rather than
elected representatives of the people working for their welfare.

 During the confidence vote, I was in the US, giving lectures at
universities on the world's largest democracy. But in the night, while
watching the news on CNN, I saw democracy in our nation being auctioned by
the political leaders. This *tamasha* made one thing clear: Political
parties in our country do not stand for national interest. Members of
Parliament were escorted from jails to the cast their vote. People were
almost dragged from their deathbed to try and win the power game.

 It appeared every seat in Parliament had a price tag. Corruption had become
a lifestyle. The country watched while its leaders went on the rampage.
Nothing could be done about it as the entire nation helplessly watched the
degeneration of independent India.

 The truth of economic independence is slowly emerging in India. Though the
list of India's billionaires has been expanding, a recent Government report
makes the glow of these mega claims fade away. The report reiterates that
India is primarily an agrarian country and in the last six years more than
1,00,000 farmers have committed suicide to escape indebtedness.

 The Agriculture Ministry was indifferent for the first two years of the
suicides. The man who stands in Parliament talking about the plight of
India's farmers is actually responsible for that plight. Our Agriculture
Minister is more interested in the glamour of cricket than in the problems
of debt-ridden farmers. Although he claims to be a 'farmer', there is no
semblance between him and impoverished farmers who cannot afford one square
meal a day and commit suicide in despair.

 Today the situation is worse than ever before because the celebrations on
August 15 every year appear futile and contrived. At least during the
British Raj we knew who were our enemies. Today our enemy is disguised as
our own man.

 Using religion to divide the nation is no new ploy for the people of this
country. Earlier the British would use this ploy for their benefit; today
our politicians are taking recourse to it for their benefit.

 Our intelligentsia is no different from that of Pakistan's intelligentsia.
The Jammu & Kashmir issue is the life line of our intellectuals. Their
entire existence will cease the day this issue is resolved. To ensure their
survival, it is essential that this issue remains alive in all forms.

 Cross-border terrorism no more garners TRPs for these people. So, it is
very important for them to create a new issue that will again make the
country burn and generate a sense of unrest. The biggest hypocrisy of our
politicians is the secularism they preach. When a so-called 'communal' party
talks about Hindus, it is castigated. But what about a ruling party whose
trump card is to be seen as a sympathiser of the minorities? The country
needs to realise that the majority community cannot build a palace on the
pyre of a minority community; the same is true *vice-versa*.

 After more than six decades of independence and co-existence, the minority
communities of this country must stop feeling victimised for no rhyme or
reason. The entire Amarnath Yatra land fiasco has been blown out of
proportion. That a land deal can become so explosive is beyond imagination.

 The issue stems from demands to create temporary structures for the
Amarnath Yatris. This minor issue has been politicised and the politicians
of Kashmir have made it a life-and-death issue. Please mark my words -- I
say *politicians of Kashmir* and not Jammu & Kashmir, because here too they
have sown the seeds of another division: 'Hindu' Jammu and 'Muslim' Kashmir.


 Statements are being made by Ms Mehbooba Mufti and Mr Sajjad Lone that they
do not mind hosting the Amarnath Yatris as they are their 'guests'. We need
to tell the separatists that pilgrims are Indians and they cannot be treated
as guests in their own homeland. The agitation in the Valley is being
created by political brokers for whom every person killed is a vote earned.

 Why else would a senior leader like Omar Abdullah declare, "*Hum jaan de
denge lekin zameen nahi denge*" (We will give our lives but not our land).
This man does not mind putting the lives of thousands of people on the line
of fire for a piece of land smaller than a football field.

 The mathematicians of vote-bank politics should get their calculations
right when they behave like the *masiahs* of the minority community. In the
Kashmir Valley it is the Hindus who are in a minority; history is witness to
the ethnic cleansing of the Hindus from the Valley by the majority
community. Yet, today they proudly declare themselves as 'secular' and
messengers of 'peace' between communities.

 The Valley has been a victim of separatist violence for years and has
sacrificed many of its children to the horrors of terrorism which is
sponsored by Pakistan. It is really sad to see separatists blackmailing the
nation that they will march into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to weaken India.
In other words, the very people who control the levers of our democratic
machinery are those rampaging on the streets.

 Today, as we, a proud and rapidly developing nation, celebrate our
Independence day and watch the Prime Minister addressing the country from
behind bullet-proof glass in fear of his own people, we should ask ourselves
whether as a nation we are really independent. Happy Independence day.

 -- *The writer is a film-maker and social activist.*