KING C BHARATI
Jammu, Dec 13|15: Thanks to raging debate on intolerance in India, Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) are back in news and are not only being talked about in TV debates but also in the Parliament where a full discussion was held a day before with members cutting across the party lines supporting their cause. KPs who were a forgotten lot bearing the brunt of the intolerance of the ad- ministration in Jammu and Kashmir suddenly found themselves being flocked by the TV cameras and anchors to revisit their wounds of migration and circumstances under which a whole ethnic community was cleansed by the terrorists in Kashmir owing their patriotism and religious affiliation while the government of the day turned a blind eye towards them. The reason for their new found status in the lime light is not because politicians have finally realized their mistakes and the miseries of Kashmiri Pandits but because the same set of politicians find them useful again as in elections to counter the intolerance propaganda being perpetuated by the battered Congress to settle scores with the central government. The central government however did not recall Kashmiri Pandits on its own rather it were the Kashmiri Pandits who again came to the rescue of the Government of India to confront the misleading propaganda unleashed by some anti-nationals firing over the shoulders of so called respected citizens of the country. Pandits have suffered because of this trait of being loyal to the nation which however forgets and remembers them according to convenience as and when they are required. Protecting nationalism and their religion has always cost Pandits dearly who have suffered since ages but never gave up. The current migration being the seventh in the succession since their arrival from Central Asia has inflicted no less miseries on this community which is facing a calculated ethnic cleansing in the state reducing this minority to just a few lakhs since their migration in 1990. What caught the attention of the nation was leading of anti-intolerance debate by the Bollywood star of the community Anupam Kher who questioned the debaters and ‘Award Wapsi Gang’ as to why they failed to return their awards when a whole community was being annihilated for their religious allegiance. Even though Pandits had been asking these uncomfortable questions they were mostly ignored by the so called intellectuals and TV channels but once Anupam Kher came into picture the TV channels found it a TRP generating commodity and hence Pandits were back on scene. This also gave the central government and BJP a readymade tool to beat the ‘Award Wapsi Gang’ to answer them in their own language and in the process bringing KPs to the fore front of discussion. However what one regrets is that this community of more than 10 lakh souls was forgotten by the political class and media over the years and left to fend for themselves in the camps of Jagti and other places while the world remained silent. But Pandits being a wiser lot have rightly utilized this opportunity to disseminate their real story to the modern world and the new generation once again which had little knowledge about the miseries KPs have suffered. Now it is to be seen as how this new debate on KPs miseries actually benefits them for they have been waiting for justice for the past 26 years and counting.
