Demography of communalism…



The fire sparked in Amarnath is burning the whole of Jammu & Kashmir. Muslim gangs brought the whole state to a halt in the past week and now it’s the turn of the Hindus. Hindu gods will be terribly upset if we don’t put up an equally good show, if not better.

When the Kashmir government tried to allot 40 acres of forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) temporarily, the proverbial hell broke loose in J&K. The Hurriat Counsil, Yassin Malik and other separatists joined ranks with National Conference and PDP in their protests. Many people were killed and injured and in some places the police had to open fire to contain the mob.

PDP, a Kashmir based party whose leader Mufti Muhammad is a sympathiser for separatists' cause but is part of the fragile state coalition headed by the Congress. He pulled the plug off the government and it faces floor test in the assembly on 7th. Fearing the collapse of the assembly, the Congress hurriedly revoked the land transfer order. But their fate still hangs precariously.

The protesters argue that this land allocation would change the demography of the land. When the Congress acceded to their demands, BJP cried foul saying the government is playing into the separatist’s hands. Religion seems prominent in both the claims. And dirty politics seems evident in all the moves.

Religious extremism is evident in the term ‘demographic alteration.’ In 1986, due to communal riots, 350,000 Hindu Pandits fled Kashmir. Nobody cried about demographic alteration then. In plain English, some additional Kashmiri land will go to a Hindu temple, which is wrong: Because Kashmir belongs to Muslims. The leaders of Kashmir could not have been more blatant in pronouncing their communalism. Pity that nobody noticed.

Beyond the ‘demographic’ cause, every other reason the leaders provide seems flimsy and often laughably absurd. Omar Abdullah claims that there were no arrangements for the pilgrims for last 160 years and asks why now. The answer is: For so many years there were no metro rail, inter-state highways, expressways etc. It doesn’t mean that we can’t build them now. The same argument holds good for Amarnath as well. Besides, the pilgrims have been undertaking hazardous trekking every year and the government must assist in ever way they can.

To think of it, many years there were no terrorist activities in the Amarnath area either. Why now?

Qazi Afzal of PDP complains that the government doesn’t have the rights to transfer the land. The order says that the land is being ‘given for temporary use’ because the government doesn’t have permanent transfer rights.

Regardless of the arguments, a few things must be made clear. The question of ‘demography’ must be summarily dismissed. Kashmir is part of India and hence there is no question of Muslim demography or Hindu demography. As Ashok Pandit commented, if Haj pilgrims can have accommodation structures all over India, so can Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir. Congress’ decision is simply knee-jerk and goes into the long line of their impulsive mistakes.

In the middle of the heat and dust, an important issue appears to be forgotten. Environmentalists have feared that constructions in the forest land would impact the fragile ecology of the Himalayan terrain. This was pointed out very early but now lies buried in the debris of Islamic fanaticism and reactionary Hindu extremism. However, due to the flared sensitivities, those 40-hectares are going to remain untouched now. Sethu Canal, an ecologically disastrous project will never be operational thanks to communal politics on Lord Ram. Amarnath Land is another case in this chapter. So the environmentalists now thank the fanatics from both sides and then relax.

If only there was a temple or god-related problem in the Narmada Valley…