Paradise to Parados

This post is inspired by a letter written to the editor of The Hindu the other day by my brother, Ramkumar Oruganti, who was in Srinagar, Kashmir when discontent boiled over and the violence started. Nothing seems to have changed in the last 20 years. 

People who can elbow their way into our minds via the main stream media would have us believe that a political solution is what is needed in Kashmir. Both the words, political and solution are dicey. Firstly, to a logical mind, suggesting a solution would imply that the problem has been identified; for without a problem how could you propose a solution? If we do assume we know what the problem is, the solution that is being proposed by politicians is bound to be a political one; for even when politicians suggest a military solution it is in reality, a political one.

So, what IS the problem in Kashmir? Do any of us know? The commonly verbalized idea is that Pakistan and Co. wants to keep India busy; so they put money in some people's hands to help them wage a war of attrition against India. The Indian government in response sends in the army to bring back a sense of peace. The army does what it is trained to do. The cycle of violence continues with intermittent periods of peace and public memory is short.

Let's look at the commonality between the areas where the Indian army has been called in to quell 'unrest'. Punjab, J&K, the north east states, and increasingly, places like Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Not in Tamilnadu or Maharashtra. While it would be easy, and incorrect to think that bad governance is the common thread, I think there's something even more fundamental that ties such places together. Innocence.

Most people in these parts are simple, like some of us in other parts of the country still are. They trust and expect to be trusted. Integrity is more valuable to them than material wealth. They take joy in the simplest of things. They live close to the earth and live off its bounty without greed. They see western and urban distractions without fear and absorb cultural traits like children do. Little do they know that the ones peddling the traits are fully aware of what they are doing; like the Christian missionaries - who went around dressing naked tribals and burdening them with western notions of sin and heaven. Today’s politicians and businesses are no different. Now, this is a double edged sword. Exploitation is hard work. The problem for the cultural peddler is that the simple person, on account of his simplicity perceives things very clearly. At the first sign of broken trust, at the first glimpse into the dark underbelly of the transaction, the simple man is angered without restraint. His anger will not be tempered by modern education or social niceties. When the majority wake up to the reality that their way of life is under threat, they resist, with whatever means available at their disposal and accept offers of support without reservations.

Innocent anger is sad to witness and even sadder when beaten down with stronger weapons. But slowly and surely, innocence is broken and callous maturity takes its place. Some mature faster than others and being the only ones with whom the rest of the word can communicate, they are rewarded for colluding. They end up betraying the very roots from which they came forth.

The pseudo military solution

The Indian government's strategy of using guns to shut people up has clearly not worked. In Kashmir, the kids who threw stones when they were 10 are 30 now and throwing bigger stones. The army jawans who shot at the kids 20 years ago have gone home to pensions and security guard jobs. the politicians who were looting the state coffers 20 years ago have handed the state over to their progeny. The money has stayed with the few and the stones with the many.

The Indian army and its various avatars are deployed in large numbers in J&K and the north-east and other “troubled” regions. There are even special units that have been formed to fight "insurgency", not just in J&K but in other parts of the country too. I would think that it takes a hell of a lot of time to put a force like the Rashtriya Rifles together and recruit and train youth to kill other youth. Not just time but dedication, perseverance, diligence and truck loads of money. Had even half that amount been spent on building schools and colleges and encouraging local businesses in places like Kashmir and Manipur, the people would perhaps not be interested in being recruited by wastrels from Pakistan or China. Wait. Did I just say encourage local business and education? I'm sorry; I forgot that those are things that politicians in open collusion with businesses regulate in order to maintain an impoverished population in huts to visit like messiahs and fake a healing experience. The Indian politician, in his current shape and form, will have no reason to exist if he takes on the real problems and solves them. The fear of losing control prevents them from doing anything worthwhile, even if they were remotely capable of doing so. If the government expects you to pay taxes on time, promises protection in return and dubiously delivers the army to your doorstep when you demand justice, I fail to see how the mafia could be worse. Perhaps the only difference is that the government has a stronger army.

Stand up

Ever wondered why there isn't a single person who is able to stand in the middle of Lal chowk and bare himself to criticism and stones, if she must? Why is it not possible for Omar Abdullah, as the elected leader of the state of J&K to stand without guards in the middle of the street and face the kids throwing stones? As the representative of the people, what better work could he possibly have? Couldn't be governance; for sure. Flying to Delhi and acting angry at his bosses are time wasting, debilitating tactics that don't fool anyone. The answer, I think, is quite simple. There are no leaders. There are power hungry crooks, rich kids thrown into politics because they couldn't do anything else, corrupt priests, land and mind grabbing corporate honchos, but no leaders. This guy Omar and his bosses like so many of their predecessors are at a beautiful juncture in space and time; one where they can alter the course of history for the better. They could forge their names in history as the guys who really had the guts to look at Kashmir and do something about it. The Abdullah family, if it really does care about making the common Kashmiri prosperous, would give up its wealth and launch an unbiased cleanup the likes of which India has not seen. But they would rather discuss the nuances of a sub clause in an act relating to a technique of conflict resolution that has not worked for the last 20 years and probably will not if continued for another 20.

It would be silly to think that there are no potential leaders out there with the vision and charisma to stand tall. The tricky part, though, is that mediocrity and cowardice are so rampant that anyone with the guts to stand up and be a leader is sought out and crushed by powerful lobbies for which financial profit is the only kind there is. They then proceed to fill the leadership vacuum with inert people like Manmohan Singh and Pratibha Patil. The rewards for these machinations behind the throne are so great that nobody is interested in sitting on the throne anymore!

Get out of India to be treated with decency

The Indian government used the army to squash the Sikh “problem” in the 1980s. Or did it? I think the reality is that the Sikh community, due to its culture of enterprise and sharing had matured and chanced upon a simpler path to a better life - by becoming refugees the world over and sending money back home to Punjab. There was more money in corner shops in Canada and Germany than there was in the Khalistan movement!

And once you have gained financially, or otherwise, elsewhere, India will welcome you back and offer dual citizenship and incentives for you to deposit your wealth back in India. So, while the fat cat NRIs are feted and garlanded, some poor sod in Chhattisgarh is being hunted down with guns, because he doesn't want the ground beneath his feet to be dug up and himself thrown out like a rat during spring cleaning.

I think, as a people, Indians - at least the ones who still live in India, need to come together in ways that are radically different and collaborate to find ways to move forward. The politicians and their justification of the democratic process are trite. You and I know what a sham the Indian elections are. It’s time we stopped kidding ourselves and if we need to change or junk the constitution, so be it. It’s time to change the flavour of India.

What are we scared of? Things getting worse than they already are?