Who Are These Indians Giving Legitimacy To Pakistani Hatred Of India?
Indian Air Force recently air-bombed a terror camp in Balakote region of Pakistan. This was the first time since the 70s when India was going beyond LOC and bombing (dropping the bomb as they called it) Pakistani territory. This was in response to a suicide bomber crashing into a CRPF convoy that killed 49 of Indian soldiers. India needed revenge we were told. And IAF bombing is that revenge. Or so we are told. I do not wish to comment on if the attacks were needed or not. It would be right here to point out that IAF had this capability since long. Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh were asked by IAF for just this in past when terrorists from Pakistan carried out attacks on Indian soil. Their restraint had helped us build pressure on the Pakistani state and gain the moral high ground. That capital is what Modi, the current Prime Minister of India is currently encashing. How far can that go is up for some serious thought. We have attacked now. There is no going back from here. This would certainly have far-reaching effects. Plus this has changed India-Pakistan equation for now. Were the attacks right? I would not know. In fact, none who claims they do do. I hate to use this phrase but ‘time only will tell’ if what we did was right. For now, just know that there is a difference between policemen opening fire and a non-policemen shooting bullet. They are both two men of course but one represents the state and another non-state. In a democracy, only the state has the right to violence. And that violence is under the ambit of law. It is up for scrutiny. But non-state violence isn’t. The attack in Pulwama from Pakistani side was by non-state actors. In response, IAF attacks were by state actors. India is a legitimate state. The terrorist organizations will one day vanish and soon they will, and eventually, people will forget them. They won’t be judged for good or bad. They would just vanish from the memory but Indian state? We will be judged for our actions. Every time something happens tomorrow then we will be questioned on this. Everything changes with this attack. The narrative no more is of big brother although immensely capable of avenging violence on its soil restraining; from this day on, the big brother has opened the fire, big brother is showing his big-brotherliness now. That’s one aspect of the recent fallout of terror attacks from Pakistan. The other occurred and has been occurring long before the Pulwama attacks. The demon did open its hydra-headed mouth and fangs just after attacks and intensified its bludgeoning power.
Kashmiris, primarily students and other people who trace their roots to Kashmir were hounded in mainland India. In Dehradun, even a Kashmiri professor was made to step down. Terrorists who masterminded attacks on Indian soil would be laughing hard, they would be partying in their camps and quarters. Surprised? Don’t be. If you have even slightly read the history of two nations, history of partition, why two nations parted their ways in 1947 you would know the fundamental reasons and foundational ideas on which Pakistan was formed. Or why people who fought for it found the need for such a state. They feared that in a Hindu majority India, Muslims would find it hard to live, that Hindus would make their life hard. They believed that the two communities cannot coexist. It wasn’t the belief of all Muslims of that time. There were many Muslims who discarded this idea, these Muslims stayed in India out of their wish and will. They choose India over a religion based Islamic state. It was these Muslims who stayed back who testified the Indian ethos. It is they who gave legitimacy to the great Indian project. India’s first Prime Minister JL Nehru didn’t want India to be a Hindu Pakistan. He wanted and made sure India was India, a state that was founded on the principle of Justice, Liberty and Equality, and not on the basis of religion like its neighbour. This moral high ground and the fact that a large population of Muslims who voluntarily stayed back in the Indian union, that they choose India over Pakistani state when they had a choice has riled Pakistanis ever since. India was a legitimate state since day one. But Pakistan has been vying for legitimacy ever since. The foundation of Pakistan exists in hating India, they were formed on the idea that Hindus and Muslims cannot coexist. By coexisting, by economically progressing, India has shoved it in their face. Collective Indian success has been their biggest thorn. Pakistan continuously shows Indian military and violence in Kashmir as the real face of India. By showing the plight in Kashmir, the oppression (you may try to call it not but that’s what they see it as) of Kashmiris, Pakistan tried to gain legitimacy of its actions. Hate needs validation. And each example of Hindu violating rights of a Muslim served them that process. So when ABVP protests in Dehradun asking for the ouster of Kashmiri students from mainland colleges or when Meghalaya governor asks for ban on Kashmiri goods or when Amit Shah hints at not allowing Muslims into Assam or any part of India, they are not helping India. They are helping Pakistan. They are giving legitimacy to the Pakistani state and its terror camps. They are legitimizing their hate against India. They are proving them right. They are weakening India’s claim and the upper hand that we have so far achieved internationally of being a just state compared to our neighbour.
So next time when you forward that “Muslims go back to Pakistan” text on WhatsApp or “Ban Kashmiris and their goods, hurt them where it hurts” forward, think for a while. Are you playing into the hands of enemies of the Indian state? Are you unintentionally helping and legitimizing the Pakistani hatred of India?
After Pulwama attacks, Indians were required to come together and stand as one to condemn the terrorists across the border and Pakistani state but instead, we turned on ourselves. Our news channels turned their guns (some even did so with visuals) on Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid, Umar Khalid. They started targeting ordinary Kashmiris. Without even once realizing that Kashmiris who have ventured into mainland India to study and work are reimposing their faith in Indian project. They are in their own ways delegitimizing the Pakistani hate industry. In their success lies the defeat and shaming of foundation of Pakistan. But it was hard for our news anchors and citizens to understand. Even the Prime Minister who on day one when it was pointed out to him, if he had given out a stern statement condemning the violence against Kashmiris and sacked the Meghalaya governor (via president), he would have shamed Pakistan but he let the opportunity pass. One wonders why. The answer to this lies with his core voters and upcoming general elections. His core voters are asking for blood. A large population of India which has forgotten the history and fails to realize what they are doing and asking for, seek blood. And Mr Modi and even Rahul Gandhi, his opponent find it hard to ignore or talk against. Any politician who isn’t looking for immediate electoral gains but is working for Indian project would be farsighted to see the negative effects of this constant feeding of hate. But sadly, not Rahul nor Modi want to do that. They are too blinded by immediate gains in elections this moment could bring that they are ready to burn our future at this altar. We are all screwed in the long run if we fail to see what our politicians are doing. They are playing with fire, flames of which will one day engulf us. It is late already but still, before it is too late and things go out of hand, wake up and reclaim our republic back to its ideals. Ideals of Justice, Liberty and Equality for all.
Long may live our democracy and long the ideals that formed the Indian state.
