[Reader-list] one more Kashmiri Pundit email & I'll commit suicid

[Tapas Ray]

Kshemendra,

Thank you. Your concern is quite natural. I perfectly under why you
see what seems like a lack of concern for KPs on account of a process
similar to the one for which some of us have shown concern for people
(not just those who come under the ST category in law) displaced by
so-called development projects. I think this lack of concern is
apparent, not real, and is the result of something I have mentioned in
a couple of mails, including the last one (to which you responded) -
what Aditya, Pawan and some others have been doing on this list. It is
because of these people that I, personally, would think ten times
before even attending the kind of meeting Kirdar has proposed even if
I were in the vicinity (which I am not). Would the KPs be worse off
because of my hypothetical absence from that hypothetical meeting? I
don't think so. And there woud always the Pawans and Adityas of the
world to take up the slack, if there were any slack to be taken up.

If you want to know exactly why I think they are propagandists of the
Parivar, I will have to go through months of posts in the archive.
That will also help me gauge the depth of their fascist
leanings/fascism. But this will be a major project, taking up a huge
amount of time and energy. I cannot afford that at the moment, but
plan to take up in future. Thank you for giving me a great idea.

In their case, it is not a question of "not thinking like me". I do
not agree with everything Inder says, but I do not consider him a
fanatic of any sort, much less a fascist. Some of the things Shivam
has written in the past - after his return from Kashmir - has seemed
to me a jaundiced view. But he never sounded like a fanatic or
fascist.

It's not their (Pawan, etc.) religiosity but the way they have forced
the Hindutva agenda on this list - it was Vedavati who started it two
or three years ago, if I remember - and insist on bullying the rest of
us into submission that I find not only distasteful but totally
unacceptable. Unfortunately, this is what the Parivar is all about.
Had that not been the case, BJP, Shiv Sena, etc., would have got many
more votes than it gets.

People like we wi/Dhatri and Radhikarajen/Bhat - obviously lacking the
courage to divulge their real names - are the priestly folks where
people like Pawan are the kshatriyas in the varnasrama type "division
of labour" among this list's saffron flag-bearers. (Let us hope the
kshatriyas will earn a promotion to brahminhood sometime.) You answer
them with history, logic, etc., and they get back to you with shlokas
and thousands of words of obscure and often undecipherable prose,
regurgitating stuff they have found in the scriptures or secondary
sources. As if these scriptures have no history, are above history the
way the Babari Masjid demolition was about "Hindu sentiment", not
history - which could be rewritten to accommodate the "sentiments" of
these fascists, not the entire Hindu population by far.

Of course, the Vedas were revealed, not written by mortals who ate,
drank, possibly made merry, and definitely disposed of their bodily
waste in the morning. How could I forget that? I guess I forget
because this list is run from an institution called the Centre for
Studies in Developing Societies, which is affiliated to something
called the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Tapas


2008/10/27 Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>:
> Dear Tapas
>
> The respect is mutual else I would have not corresponded with you in PRIVATE
> as we did some earlier.
>
> I would also not have bothered to address your mail on this topic if I did
> not beleive that you are a thinking person with whom I wanted to register my
> thoughts on this topic.
>
> You cannot be faulted for using the term 'migrants' since it is common
> currency. It has a particularness of meaning which (in my opinion) does not
> describe the reality. That is why I requested that the issue be seen through
> the IDP lens which (in my opinion) would be the more appropriate one. There
> was no need for you to apologise. It was more than enough that you agreed to
> do so.
>
> I personally do not think that KPs have need for any sympathy.
>
> The thrust of my thoughts was that here I have in front of my eyes the slow
> but sure extinction taking place of a Unique Human Socio/Cultural/Religious
> sub-set. Where are those who are ever so forthcoming to take up as a cause
> similar Displacement and Threatened Extinction of other Unique
> Human Sub-Sets and Unique Non-Human Sub-Sets? More than many of them are on
> this very List taking up a variety of 'causes'.
>
> Instead you get 'moronic' commentaries by a Kirdar or a Karim or a Shivam or
> that Inder Salim.
>
> You have named some KP names on this List. I am not familiar with what
> singularly or (if any) collectively is their Political or Politico-Religious
> ideology. But what I do know from my membership of some KP forums is that
> they are dedicatedly involved in trying to ease the sufferings of members of
> the KP community through practical action.
>
> It is also possible that some amongst them subscribe to the "Hindutva"
> agenda.
>
> I personally have contempt for the "Hindutva" agenda for the simple reason
> that I see it as threatening the integrity of India. Anyone who speaks or
> acts in a manner that promotes or will  lead to disintegration of India is
> an enemy of India. Is my enemy. It does not matter to me whether it is a
> Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, Atheist or Agnostic, Capitalist, Socialist or
> Communist. Or is a Kashmiri Pandit.
>
> At the same time, you will see people (on this List) being chucked into a
> (for example) Hindutva box or a Islamist box whether they deserve to be
> treated so or not. The reason (in my opinion) is that they do not have
> exactly the same views as you (not Tapas) on an issue. Since you (not Tapas)
> do not have the capability to 'engage' with their 'different opinions' it
> suits to demonise them. Becomes easier to justify unsheathing of the swords.
>
> Shouldnt a KP talking about the social/cultural/demographic/religious
> destruction wrecked in Kashmir by some Muslims be as acceptable as a
> Muslim talking of similar acts by a group of Hindus? Is that being a
> Hindutva Vaadi?
>
> Does the questioning of the Peace Avtaar of the separatist Yasin Malik
> automatically become a generalised attack on Muslims? Is attacking
> the Islamist agenda of a Ali Shah Geelani or (howsoever deviously disguised
> it may be) of a Yasin Malik or Maulvi Omar Farooq to be less acceptable than
> attacking the Hindutva agenda of a Modi or of VHP or of the Bajrang Dal or
> attacking the slimy Christiandom agenda?
>
> It is true that manner of speech, expression and how you weave the
> contents of what you convey is of importance and may make or mar
> impressions. I do hope that the KPs who are being demonised on this List pay
> attention to the perceptions created by them. Not just the KPs but everyone
> else too. Especially in the context of this topic the authors of the
> 'moronic' postings Kirdar, Karim and Shivam.
>
> There are some on this List who thrive on confrontation and will do any
> which thing to provoke it. Does it include some KPs on this List? Yes it
> does. Does it include others who are Non-KPs? Yes it does. Morons like
> Kirdar, Karim, Shivam and Inder Salim, alongwith such morons like We Wei,
> Chanchal Malviya and (if I am not wrong, the new Avtaar of Radhikarajen)
> Rajendra Bhat.
>
> Where are the 'intellectual capabilities' that seek to converse and discuss
> without open or veiled attacks? There are some. Woefully few.
>
>
> Kshmendra
> (yet another moron)
>
>
> --- On Sun, 10/26/08, Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] one more Kashmiri Pundit email & I'll commit
> suicide
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Sunday, October 26, 2008, 10:44 PM
>
> Kshemendra,
>
> I have a certain respect for you (not that you can't live without it),
> and take your criticism seriously.
>
> You are right. These people are indeed refugees or internally-displaced
> in official jargon. It was a mistake on my part to use the term
> migrants, which is a neutral term that does not adequately indicate
> their situation. I apologise for that.
>
> However, I think you might have noticed that I have always expressed
> sympathy for this group. If I remember, I wrote long ago that


> Kshmendra Kaul wrote:
>> Dear Tapas
>>
>> With what you have written, what is the difference between you and such
>> voices who unthinkingly brand as "Anti-Hindu" or
> "Pseudo-secular" or
>> "Islamists" etc those people who might talk about issues of
> Humanism?
>>
>> Talking about Kashmiri Pandit issues does not automatically make a
>> person a follower of the Hindutva agenda.
>>
>> You might have a better appreciation of the "angst" shown