[Reader-list] India won’t, can’t give up by Jaithirth Rao

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*India won't, can't give up*
*by Jaithirth Rao in The Indian Express*
**
*Link - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/355662._.htm*

*Kashmir is not special. This multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-religious
country is*

The text of a speech the prime minister should give on Jammu and Kashmir,
addressing the people of the state.

My sisters and brothers from the state of Jammu and Kashmir:

I speak to you today with the utmost candour and simplicity. Being candid
implies being honest in an emphatic, even brutal manner. People use
complicated expressions when they want to obfuscate. I intend to leave no
opportunity for anyone to interpret or misinterpret my words as the case may
be.

I want to make the following seven points:

1. India is not going to give up Kashmir. If you have been hearing that
several so-called intellectuals have advocated this, then please do not
over-estimate their influence. They can be concerned about abstractions like
the arithmetic or the algebra of justice. That is irrelevant and
inconsequential. The Republic of India is not going to confer Azadi on part
or all of Kashmir. Nor are we going to let you join Pakistan. Please do not
be misled by anyone who tells you anything to the contrary.

2. If the current unrest continues in the state, many people, mostly young
people will be affected by violence. That is avoidable. Because there is not
a hope in hell that all of this violence will persuade any government in
India to let you secede.

3. People may be misleading you that if you indulge in public
slogan-mongering, throwing stones or more lethal objects at the police in
front of TV cameras of the international media, the chances of my government
or any other government operating in its place agreeing to let you secede is
high. They are dead wrong. We have violence and public demonstrations in
dozens of places in our country every day. To some extent, we have become
immune and these acts have limited impact.

4. Some may have given you the impression that Kashmir is a unique case on
account of its history, geography or religious make-up. Please do not
believe them. As far as the government of India is concerned, all
secessionist movements, Naga or Ahom or Kashmiri, will meet the same
response. They cannot be allowed to succeed. The fact that we frequently
have "talks" with secessionists or quasi-secessionists should not lead you
to infer that there is any weakness on the government's part as far as
fundamental issues are concerned. The "talks" are part of a strategy of
combining firmness with dialogue in order to get people and their leaders to
give UP their secessionist demands. By no stretch of imagination should this
create the impression that we will give IN to these demands.

5. Our position is not based on issues that seem of great importance to you
— whether non-Kashmiris can buy land in Kashmir or whether some shrine is
run this way or that. Such issues are not the most important for us, even
though out of democratic respect for your feelings we are willing to talk
about them. The plain and simple fact is that

India is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual country. We are not
a nation-state based on one race, language or church. In this we resemble
the empires of old. Consider the Austro-Hungarian Empire where Czechs from
Bohemia, Jews from Vienna, Magyars from Hungary and German-speaking
Catholics from the Tyrol all lived together peacefully and, more
importantly, talented individuals from all of these groups were able to
blossom, thrive and prosper. That is the

Indian model with the added accoutrements of a democratic republic. We know
what happens when great empires break up. For decades after that, the
ensuing violence and anarchy turn the lives of millions of ordinary
individuals and families into a living hell. In recent times as the Soviet
Union and

Yugoslavia have broken up we have again witnessed this tragic phenomenon. If
India were to agree to one or other constituent part seceding, let me assure
you that the likely ensuing violence will make the violence in the former
Soviet Union or Yugoslavia look like a mild tea party. No government in
India, of India will countenance this. No prime minister will put himself in
a position where history will hold that he or she was responsible for such a
monumental tragedy.

6. You may also ask whether we have the stomach to put up with mounting
casualties in the police and the army. My answer is an unequivocal "yes". We
are a nation of 1.2 billion people. We don't want to sacrifice young men and
women. But we are perfectly willing to do so to preserve our way of life. We
recollect with awe that many continents away, a century and a half ago, the
kindly President Lincoln had sinews of steel when faced with longer and
longer casualty lists of the cream of American youth. But he prevented
secession. He preserved the union. That is precisely what we will do. The
misplaced secessionist attempts of some Naga leaders pre-date similar
attempts by some of your leaders. We have not yielded. In the '80s, my home
state of the Punjab was troubled greatly by foolish insurrectionists. That
too has passed. We are confident that the Indian state will prevail.

7. Let me close by appealing to each of you as individuals. My appeal is
particularly directed to young people. Instead of spending time in
agitations, demonstrations, attacking the police, etc I suggest that you
learn skills such as computer programming, financial analysis and so on.
Seek meaningful jobs anywhere in the vast integrated and fast-growing Indian
marketplace. Get ahead in life as individuals. Fulfil your individual
dreams. If you are stuck to a small state and do not see a large country and
indeed the world as your canvas you as an individual will be the loser. The
collective identity of being Kashmiri or Moslem or a Hindoo or a Buddhist is
a seductive trap. You are individuals and you deserve a better life than
screaming unrealistic and impossible slogans.

*The writer divides his time between Mumbai, Lonavla and Bangalore
jerry.rao at expressinda.com*