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SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
10 THE HINDU SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
DELHI
EDITORIAL
T
he chase for vote banks is the surest sign that
an election is in the offing. So with the general
election less than two months away, it is no
surprise that political parties are offering
protection, prosperity and more to Muslims. Nonethe-
less, it does seem odd when the Bharatiya Janata Party
woos the community with the same passion as those
among its rivals whom it has always accused of practis-
ing vote bank politics. In the event, BJP chief Rajnath
Singh went beyond customary entreaties to offer a
general apology to Muslims for whatever hurt the party
may have caused them in the past. This is the farthest
the BJP has gone vis--vis Muslims, with whom it has
so far shared an uneasy equation as much on account
of the partys belief in majoritarian Hindutva as be-
cause of its calculation that it stands to gain electorally
from religious polarisation. Against this backdrop, Mr.
Singhs overture raises some questions: What explains
the attempted inclusion? And secondly, is this enough
to bring around a community that has felt deeply alien-
ated by the BJPs exclusivist philosophy? After all, the
BJPs opposition to Muslim welfare schemes, which it
characterises as appeasement, is a matter of record.
That the BJP does not need the Muslim vote is an
open secret. But it is an equally well-established fact of
history that no party or alliance can rule this country
without showing at least a semblance of accommoda-
tion towards the community. The sectarian image of
the BJP was balanced by the many secular constitu-
ents in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Demo-
cratic Alliance. The same constituents deserted the
alliance, unfailingly citing the 2002 anti-Muslim vio-
lence in Gujarat. With the Chief Minister of Gujarat,
Narendra Modi, as its prime ministerial nominee, the
BJPs task becomes that much more difficult, and
hence Mr. Rajnath Singhs offer to apologise. But crit-
ically, the offer has not come from Mr. Modi himself.
Asked if he regretted the 2002 violence, Mr. Modi, in a
2013 interview to Reuters, generalised about pain and
hurt, using the metaphor of a puppy coming under a
car. Not just this, arguing before the Supreme Court
recently, the Gujarat Government disputed the very
constitution of the Rajinder Sachar Committee on the
ground that it was only for Muslims. Set up in 2006, the
Sachar Committee was a landmark effort at evaluation
of Muslim deprivation; it concluded that on some in-
dices, Muslims were worse off than Dalits. Not surpris-
ingly, Sachar is today an article of faith with the
community. Muslims will regard the BJPs apology
offer as a gimmick unless it is accompanied by ver-
iable action on the ground.
Apologies and
vote banks
O
f the many ironies besetting the
Kashmir conict, the most noc-
uous has been the lack of recep-
tion and incorporation of the
indigenous Kashmiri narrative to the wider
discourse on the issue. Subjected to a cordon
sanitaire by India and Pakistan, the absence
of the native articulation has recongured
the dynamics of the conict, casting it into a
labyrinth.
Premised on the edice of derivative nar-
ratives, undermining the original genesis of
the conict, the subsequent frameworks
were bound to fail, and thus the Sisyphean
toil of the past 67 years. Any issue developed
without the leverage of its core parameters is
never destined to resolve. The unfolding dy-
namics of shifting realities however present
the opportunity for the indigenous Kashmiri
narrative to emerge and given the chance,
delineate the contours of anenticing oppor-
tunity capable of bridging the divide be-
tween Srinagar and New Delhi on the one
hand and New Delhi and Islamabad on the
other.
The conjured history of the conict, com-
mencing from1947, was never really owned
in Kashmir. The rights movement coming of
age in 1931 remained the pivot of ideological
reference in Kashmir rather than the sub-
continents partition of 1947. The latter in
fact exacerbated the issue by altering its ori-
entation froma rights movement of a people
to a territorial dispute between two states.
Once presented in the United Nations,
myopic individuals within Pakistan ensured
the limiting of the purview of the conict to
accession to either India or Pakistan, sty-
mieing the option of independence provided
for by the procedures of Partition, even if
symbolically. The successive erosion of au-
tonomy enshrined in the Instrument of Ac-
cession, symbolising the preservation of
Kashmiri rights and identity by India, fur-
ther complicated matters. Yet, notwith-
standing the plethora of imposed ideas and
narratives, the underlying impetus in Kash-
mir remained anchored to the nationalistic
thrust of the 1931 movement. Enhanced lit-
eracy rates, media exposure, growing aware-
ness and a shift fromcult-based politics toan
issue drivenmindset, set inmotiona process
of substantiating the abstract of the indige-
nous Kashmiri narrative on a popular level.
The insurgency of the 1990s, the subsequent
character it took and its failure to deliver,
further developed a native Kashmiri take on
a broader level. The emergence of young
writers and anarray of journalists along with
a slowly invigorating civil society pooled in
to disseminate the Kashmiri side of the saga,
slowly crystallising the indigenous Kashmiri
narrative within the wider public
consciousness.
Space for soft separatism
The timing of the evolving indigenous nar-
rative cannot be overestimated. Not only
does it come after a period of incessant tur-
moil but during a period of relative calm,
stimulating earnest introspection. The pre-
occupation of one of the main players of the
dispute in its own battles of survival also
allows comparable liberty to synthesise the
indigenous perspectives objectively and re-
alistically beyond the duress of (one genre
of) the gun. The creation of the space for
Soft Separatism both reinforces the narra-
tive while also being attributive of fathering
it and theoretically provides an avenue to
reconcile Kashmirs aspirations with the
prevailing geopolitical realities.
This opens up a huge opportunity for New
Delhi. But for India to identify and seize the
ripeness, it will have to move beyond its
straitjacketed responses and allow innova-
tion and magnanimity to take lead. It will
have to view the issue not just through the
lens of its national security but also the
genuine political aspirations of the Kashmiri
people a stipulation underwriting the In-
strument of Accession. At the end of the
day, any sustainable resolution will have to
emerge from within Kashmir, providing it
the ownership and credibility to endure.
More so given the constraints of hyped po-
lemics in the mainstream political arena, it
will be very difficult for any political gure/
party inIndia to be seencapitulating to the
demands of Kashmir as will any alien impo-
sition be unacceptable in Kashmir. In the
given scenario, the best bet is to allow space
for the indigenous Kashmiri narrative to
evolve, mature and sophisticate into a real-
istic and achievable idiom. This will allow
India the comfort to deal with a Kashmiri
rights-oriented frame ne-tuned to the dic-
tates of reason and realismbeyond the irre-
dentist claims of Pakistan, the other party to
the entangled arc. It is a comfortable doable
if New Delhi displays the political will to do
so. Not only will this align the Srinagar-New
Delhi relationship toward a more receptive
and fructuous curve but it will also provide
the political and diplomatic cushioning for
India and Pakistan to scale down their re-
spective stances and direct their efforts to-
wards a more meaningful and substantive
engagement.
Pro-Kashmiri leadership
An essential corollary to the process is the
emergence of a pro-Kashmiri leadership
sensitive and receptive to the intricacies of
the indigenous narrative. Working in a two-
way process, both reinforcing the narrative
while also being a product of it, the lead-
ership will be the central mediumemploying
and developing the narrative. Restoring ac-
countability with the people of Kashmir, the
indigenous narrative will help stave off un-
warranted alien inuences, especially the
ideological sort, providing primacy to Kash-
miri ethos and interests. An independently
evolved and reective rubric dening the
Kashmiri interest will be both self-condent
and exible to appropriate the currents of its
ideological moorings to the demands of geo-
politics. The key however, is the independ-
ence for both the leadership and its pedestal
narrative to evolve.
The glimmerings of such leadership can
already be felt in Kashmir with the nuanced
postures of the prevailing leadership. While
electoral gimmicks on the part of main-
streamleadershipcanbe the causa immedia-
ta of the native anchoring, nonetheless, its a
fresh departure from the previous desper-
ation to be seen as aloof fromthe prevailing
Kashmiri discourse. The concept of pro-
Kashmiri leadership may reect different
hues and character but the underlining
premise is accountability and allegiance to
the indigenous Kashmiri narrative.
The acceptance of electoral politics and
compartmentalisation rather than substitu-
tion of the ideological moorings encapsulat-
ed in the slogan Azaadi can be seen as one
manifestation of this concept. Without dis-
turbing the larger ideological framework of
the conict, this genre of politics lls in both
the administrative lacunae especially in the
absence of social security networks provided
by resistance movements in most conicts
and conspicuous by their absence in Kash-
mir, while also throwing up young, fresh and
committed faces. The latter mobilises the
much needed alternative to the prevailing
political structures, prolonging the tried,
tested and non-deliverable faces surrogating
the interests of either regional stakeholder.
Notoriously garbed in the jargon of Soft
Separatism, the concept however is not a
phenomenon unique to the present phase of
political dynamics in Kashmir. Its preceden-
ts can be traced to 1934 when Moulvi Ab-
dullah Vakil, a founding member of the
MuslimConference became part of the Praja
Sabha, the then legislative council of Kash-
mir, to counter the elitist monopoly of the
Muslim members and introduce a populist
Kashmiri appeal to the councils working.
Maulana Masoodi, a revered scholar closely
associated with the leadership of the Plebi-
scite Front, contested elections in the
post-1953 phase to mellow the overt inuen-
ce of New Delhi in the corridors of power.
Jamaat-i-Islami too contested the election
in 1972, securing ve seats ostensibly as a
sine qua non to dilute the inuence of the
nationalistic plebiscite front while also pro-
viding New Delhi the cover of credible elec-
tions in the face of rising diplomatic concern
over distorted electoral practice in Kashmir.
Like today, all these elections took place
against the backdrop of a parallel ongoing
resistance movement.
Theoretically providing a unique opportu-
nity for the maturation of the indigenous
narrative and leadership, the concept how-
ever premises on the credibility of the indi-
viduals representing it. At the core lies the
need for ownership and identication of its
representatives by the people of Kashmir
and their willingness to assign their trust
and conviction with them. Is that happen-
ing? No. What we nd instead is a promotion
of a recycled leadership with huge political
baggage, popularly perceived as Trojan
horses and far removed fromKashmiri sen-
sibilities at the larger cost of undermining
more credible and conceptually deliverable
entrants. Old wine in a new bottle, all it
provides is transitory, tactical gain for New
Delhi while thwarting the opportunity the
concept furnishes, and closing the doors on
the long-term interests of any party to the
dispute.
Will another ripe opportunity be allowed
to lapse at the altar of myopic calculations or
a more visionary valour carry the day, only
time will tell.
(Asma Khan Lone, daughter of JKLF
leader Amanullah Khan, is a political
researcher with roots in both the Indian and
Pakistani sides of Kashmir. E-mail:
asma_sgl@hotmail.com)
Indigenous narratives and leadership
The unfolding dynamics of shifting realities
present the opportunity for the indigenous
Kashmiri narrative to emerge and given the
chance, delineate the contours of an enticing
opportunity capable of bridging the divide
between Srinagar and New Delhi on the one
hand and New Delhi and Islamabad on
the other
Asma Khan Lone
State of the Navy
As the daughter of a naval officer,
the sister of two and the mother of
one, it grieves me as all of us in
the family each time the Navy or
the armed forces suffer what the
media and the top brass of the
forces refer to as incidents/
accidents. It is an undeniable fact
that our equipment is obsolete, and
so our safety standards are
compromised. And this leads to the
n number of errors, both human
and mechanical, that in turn cause
these mishaps. I also wonder if
the most recent incident, and the
consequent action of the (now,
sadly, former) Naval chief,
rendered in the highest traditions
of the services, will impact what is
to come better equipment and
therefore better safety standards.
The media have also done good
service. We, the families of sailors
who sail the high seas, hope, pray
and live with the faith that at least
lord Varuna will have mercy. Sham
No Varuna is the prayer on every
mariners lips, and their families.
Usha Pisharody,
Thrissur
Two young men, Lt. Commander
Kapish Muwal and Lt. Manoranjan
Kumar, have had to die for no fault
of theirs. To know that a
submarines ageing power pack was
not replaced in a ret and that it
was a aw that escaped attention
during earlier harbour trials is
unbelievable. It is extremely
disheartening that the Indian Navy
has many aws, especially at a time
when our services are going all out
to recruit youngsters to serve the
nation, promising thema glorious
career and an opportunity to live
their dreams.
Drishya V. Nair,
Vellore
The series of reports on the state of
our defence forces (Feb. 28) is
alarming and evoke deepanger. It is
a shame that our men and women
in uniform have to also face the
additional challenge of working
with substandard, obsolete or even
no equipment while carrying out
their duties. The government has a
weak policy on equipment
upgradation.
Sarita Patil,
Nashik, Maharashtra
It saddens one that procrastination
has played a major role in the
tragedy. The Admiral can be
considered responsible if the
incident happened because of a lack
of control over his officers leading
to inefficiency, but it is clear that he
is a disciplinarian, a man of
integrity and a leader who
supported crucial modernisation.
The Defence Minister has called
him a very good Admiral. The
Minister should have resigned.
Baby Venkatraman,
Chennai
The state of our three services is
disturbing, making ghting for or
defending our nation an almost
impossible task. It will be no
exaggeration to say that we may
have to eventually ght our
enemies in hand-to-hand combat.
It is horrifying that a Defence
Secretary once said that buying
arms is like buying vegetables!
There has to be a public inquiry by
eminent citizens, presided over by a
sitting Supreme Court judge, on
our defence preparedness.
V.V. Nair,
Manipal
A serviceman understands that he/
she has to obey orders and be
prepared to lay down his/her life
for the country when needed. What
we see today is a sheer waste of our
well-motivated and trained
servicemen and women due to
ageing equipment. Nothing seems
to work, be it ghter aircraft,
submarines, ships, tanks or guns.
There is even a shortfall of officers.
The next government must
convene a special session of
Parliament to deal with the issue
and stop indulging in false-speak.
In India, politicians enjoy power
without any responsibility,
bureaucrats wield authority
without any accountability and the
military assumes responsibility
without any direction. The
government must meet face-to-
face with the service chiefs.
A.B. Bhushan,
Hyderabad
Governance model
The idea mooted by the
government to have eight to 10 Tier
II and III cities in Seemandhra as
specialised mini capitals is quite
original in thought (Feb.28). If
implemented efficiently and
honestly, it will denitely help in
the balanced growth of the State
and open the doors to numerous
opportunities and shape dreams.
A. Kishor,
Visakhapatnam
The development and future of the
residual Andhra Pradesh depends
on a committed leadership with
clear vision and a strong sense of
responsibility. In the absence of
good leadership, all blueprints and
fancy plans will sink without a
trace. Development in the hands of
present-day and conventional
political parties is a risk. A new
party with a strong and fresh
leadership is the need of the hour.
The government should also think
of a new model for the region with
more popular participation outside
a political model.
Sudhakar Reddy Kalathuru,
Tirupati
Allow e-commerce
This refers to the report, IT
hardware vendors slam unethical
pricing by e-commerce sites
(some editions, Feb. 27). It is quite
clear that sellers, operating
through brick-and-mortar stores,
are trying hard to ensure that e-
commerce is stymied. A major
problem in physical stores is the
poor inventory management
practices of sellers, thus denying
the customer a wide choice. FDI in
multibrand retail was blocked in
many States. Now, there seems to
be a coordinated attempt to deny
consumers the option of greater
choice and lower prices. When e-
commerce is ourishing in other
countries, why should it be a
problemin India? The government
must respect the choice of the vast
majority of consumers who
welcome e-commerce sales that are
competitive in every way, having
faced debilitating ination over the
years.
Aravind Narasipur,
Chennai
Funding and CSR
According to the new corporate
social responsibility (CSR) policy
that comes into effect on April 1,
funding political parties (by
companies) does not come under
social responsibility (Feb.28). This
is a progressive step. At the same
time, one feels that some
companies might give their
unaccounted money to parties
(outing their moral
responsibility) to receive undue
favours fromthe latter.
S. Ramakrishnasayee,
Ranipet
The boat children
The report, To school and back
on boat (Feb.28), brought back
fond memories of my school. I used
tocommute by ferry boat across the
Hooghly from Naihati to Bandel in
West Bengal in the 1970s. We were
known as the boat children and
always excused for coming late to
school. Our fathers used to work in
the numerous engineering
industries paper mills, jute mills,
and so on which lined the
Hooghly at Halisahar, Naihati and
Jagatdal. The absence of good
schools on the eastern bank made
us commute by ferry to convents in
Bandel and Chandannagar on the
western bank. One cannot describe
the joy we felt. We would be
carefully chaperoned by Bahadur,
our darwan and Kesto, our majhi.
Though we did not know how to
swim, we had full faith in themand
they never let us down. Commuting
by boat across the Hooghly then
was a fairly common practice.
Chhabi Nag,
Tirupati
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full
postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
P
residents Rule in Andhra Pradesh was the
only option left before the Union Cabinet after
the resignation of Chief Minister Kiran Ku-
mar Reddy, who also quit the Congress pro-
testing against the bifurcation of the State. With most
of the members of the Legislative Assembly divided on
geographical lines, and party loyalty counting for noth-
ing, no government would have been able to get ade-
quate numbers for a vote of condence. Moreover, with
the election to the Assembly due to be held along with
the Lok Sabha polls soon, none of the senior State
leaders of the Congress could have been very enthusi-
astic about the prospect of serving the remainder of the
term as an ineffectual Chief Minister. With the model
code of conduct bound to become operative with the
announcement of the election schedule, a new govern-
ment would have been left without much leeway for
even routine administrative decision-making. Thus,
other than bringing together unwilling, disparate ele-
ments in a weak, ineffectual government in Andhra
Pradesh, the Congress leadership had no option. Presi-
dents Rule suggested itself to the Centre, and the
Assembly could only be kept in suspended animation.
Presidents Rule in Andhra Pradesh opens up anoth-
er possibility for the Centre and the Congress: holding
Assembly elections at a later date, and not simultane-
ously with the Lok Sabha polls. Unlike in the case of the
previous round of state-formation exercises involving
Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, the bifur-
cation of Andhra Pradesh has been left to coincide with
the parliamentary and State Assembly elections. De-
pending on the timing of the presidential assent and
the notication of the appointed date for the formation
of Telangana, elections will have to be held either to the
composite Andhra Pradesh Assembly or to the two
assemblies of Seemandhra and Telangana. Elections to
two separate assemblies may well take some time to
organise, but it does make political sense. The process
of rst forming a government for Andhra Pradesh in its
current form out of the composite Assembly, and later
for Telangana and Seemandhra after bifurcating the
Assembly, can thus be avoided. However, while Presi-
dents Rule can be justied on the ground that there
was in Andhra Pradesh a situation of impasse as
specied in the Bommai judgment, the postponement
of the Assembly election will have no such justication.
An alternative government might not have been pos-
sible from the current Assembly, but this in itself is no
argument for postponing the Assembly election.
Whether or not Telangana comes into being before the
Lok Sabha polls, the Centre and the Election Commis-
sion need to take the most democratic course which
is to put a popular government in place without delay.
Waiting for
bifurcation
CARTOONSCAPE