Much ado about nothing

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Daanish Bin Nabi

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee walked an extra mile to reach the people of Kashmir as the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 had driven a wedge between India-Pakistan relations and put to
freeze conclusive dialogue and talks on Kashmir. Despite the criticism and annoyance at home, Vajpayee addressed the people of J&K at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in April 2003. For his intent and openness he was well received with slogans of “Na Banduk Se Na Goli Se Baat Banegi Boli Se” (only talks are the way out). In his address, Vajpayee made a reference to the then situation in Iraq and said, “Bloodbath should end in Kashmir because guns and war is no solution to any problem.”
Cut to 2015; state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed did everything to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi who reached Srinagar on November 7 and addressed a rally in the same stadium. Tweaking the same slogan, Mufti Sayeed said at the same venue, “Na Grenade Se Na Goli Se Baat Banegi Boli Se”. Mufti by invoking Vajpayee tried to reap the dividends of the work done by the latter more than ten years ago.
For a common Kashmiri, Modi’s visit was portrayed as momentous and of great benefit to Valley. However, within minutes of the address delivered by PM Narendra Modi, it became cleat that he was in no mood to budge from his stated position. He snubbed Mufti Sayeed publicly by stating that he does not need any advice or analysis from anyone and in the same breath eulogized Vajpayee’s approach. 
This snub by Modi can be interpreted in three ways. First, Modi has not understood Kashmir issue and realities on ground. By conveniently ignoring the voice of Kashmir, which is expressed by different stakeholders, the PM has unfortunately shown his indisposition to talk to people on Kashmir issue.        
Second, even if Modi is aware of the ground reality, he is under pressure to go against his party’s stand and displease the ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS. 
Third, that the PM has not revealed anything on the permanent settlement of the dispute or even touched that part. What was said was completely from economic and development point of view.    
Hence, Kashmir did not open to Modi like it did when Vajpayee addressed from the podium. Many political analysts, mainstream politicians, Hurriyat leaders and Kashmiris have found the visit as a mere hoax. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah summed up the visit as “Khoda Pahad Nikla Chuha”.
Analyzing the visits of the two prime ministers, how much the current dispensation in Delhi has understood the Kashmir problem or deviated from it is self-explanatory. 
People of Kashmir were not waiting for the big cheque that the prime minister came with. Even Hurriyat (M) Chairman Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq was optimistic about the new dispensation which he may have believed would follow the footprints of Vajpayee.
Modi has not only let the Kashmiri leadership, but entire Kashmir down. When Modi visited Kashmir on 8 December 2014, he said, “Pakistan created problems in the border areas of Kutch. But we (Modi government in Gujarat), instead of responding to Pakistan disturbances, focused on development projects and were successful.”
What Modi fails to understand is that Kashmir is not an economical problem. Kashmir has a legacy and a bloody history that runs deep in the Kashmiri society. Economic packages worth billions have been doled out by successive governments in New Delhi. They have not yielded the results that New Delhi desired. The alienation in Kashmir keeps growing.
What New Delhi has to understand is that the political question of Kashmir has to be answered, sooner the better. The prime minister has failed to admit it. Delhi's think-tanks, academicians, political analysts, journalists, security analysts and others have to understand that these economic packages, Delhi’s own brigade in Kashmir, their interlocutors - all of them cannot bring Kashmir closer to New Delhi. What is needed is a political solution to the vexed issue of Kashmir. 
Had the prime minister understood the composite nature of Kashmir issue he surely won’t have addressed a “made up gathering” at historic Sher-e-Kashmir stadium.
Apart from the usual sloganeering, nothing has changed for a common Kashmiri on ground. The tragedy is that after leaving the state, the reality in Kashmir became apparent, the reality that ministers and party leaders do not want to admit. A youth was killed and the situation in Kashmir has once again taken an ugly turn. The economic packages will not bring an end to these repeated tragedies, meaning that the visit was a failure.   

Feedback at daanishnabi@gmail.com
Published in Rising Kashmir on November 12, 2015

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