Zamir Ahmed
Despite the political polarizations about the future of the state, J&K has never been considered a communally sensitive state. People belonging to different religions have peacefully co-existed in the state since centuries. Owing to their common cultural moorings, the people of J&K share certain unique ethos that make them distinctly different from the inhabitants of mainland India. Religious tolerance is one such trait that is ingrained in the people of the state. Religion has rarely been a reason of discord here.
This is despite the historical pogrom of the people of one community in Jammu in 1947. This is also despite the repeated attempts of vested interests to play vote bank politics on the back of communal disharmony. The Amarnath Yatra Land row in 2008 is an important development in the recent past that allowed the communal minds to manage an entry into the psyche of the gullible citizens. Even though the resentment shown by the people of the valley against the clandestine decision of infamous land allotment was not purely on religious grounds, it was made to appear so in the Jammu region of the state. Right wing organizations were in the forefront of campaign that held sway over large section of otherwise tolerant people during those tumultuous days. Firebrand speakers of known communal organizations were imported from the mainland by a particular political party only to exploit the religious sentiments of the faithful for their political gains. This would have started a dangerous trend had not the beneficiaries of such communal politics been exposed later on in a vote-for-cash scam in the state legislative assembly.
The communal forces are again attempting to polarize the otherwise peaceful communities on religious lines. Now they have chosen seemingly remote districts of the state to carry out their nefarious designs. The point in case is the recent inflammatory speech of Mr. Pravin Togadia – of all the places – at Rajouri that vitiated the otherwise peaceful environment of the District. Mr Pravin is supposedly the “International” president of an organization. His tour of the non-descript district of Rajouri must have been a part of his “Global” campaign for ‘Peace and Harmony”. But it did, in its wake, leave a trail of violence and scars of mistrust among communities which will take a while to heal up. Dr. Pravin Togadia is known for his rabidly communal thoughts and equally inflammatory oratory. His speech at Rajouri cannot be dismissed as a one-off event. It has to be seen in the larger context of dwindling support base of communal parties in the region. Again, even the choice of venue is not accidental. Exploiting the religious sentiments of the marginalized has been the time-tested strategy of the communal forces.
It is a shame that the so called National Media has chosen to look the other way by not reporting the incident. A hill district of J&K has been under curfew for a week following communal clashes over a reportedly inflammatory speech of an influential right wing group and it is not considered worth reporting by the dozen a dime media outlets. This has rarely happened in the past even when armed militancy was at its zenith. It smacks of insensitivity as well as callousness. It also smacks of complicity.
