The Indian sham democracy is attributable to the Nazi’s totalitarian regime and its geopolitical strategy of Lebensraum (living space) that called for ethnic cleansing of the Jews and racial superiority of the Germans. The Nazi ideology of the 20th century rendered utter destruction, which still haunts the world. Identical to the Nazi ideology is the concept of Hindutva that is a modern fascist concept, based on militant Hinduism.
It has been 277 days since the beautiful valley of Kashmir is under lockdown. The lockdown in Kashmir is not commensurate to the lockdown the world is facing due to the pandemic. It is a clampdown on the rights of the 12.5 million Kashmiri population – their right to live peacefully, their right as humans. Kashmir even during this health crisis is covered under smoke of gunfire, shelling and tear gas. Something we cannot even imagine while living with all the luxuries of unrestricted internet access, medical and other facilities.
On 5th August, 2019 Kashmir was ripped off from its special status. Article 35A and 370 were the only protective shields that kept Kashmir’s autonomous status and territorial sovereignty salvaged. The Bharitaya Janata Party (BJP) government acted upon its nonsensical election manifesto under the guise of development of Kashmir. This insane act cannot be viewed from a simple lens, of a state, trying to achieve complete sovereignty. Rather it is a sinister design of the current Indian Government to forcefully occupy the disputed territory and alter its demography.
A.G.Noorani says that the rise of Hindutva in India is based on a central theme – rejection of the very concept of Indian nationalism; i.e territorial nationalism and the formulation of the concept of “cultural Nationalism.” Hindu Nationalism has supplanted the Indian Nationalism and the minorities remain in grave danger. Savarkar has elaborated the essentials of Hindutva as – a common nation (Rashtra), a common race (Jati) and a common civilization (Sanskriti). To Hindus the whole Hindustan is Pritibhu (father land) and Panyabhu (Holy land) and Savarakar stresses on the ‘purification’ of the land.
In neocolonial context, slashing Kashmir of their territorial sovereignty and demographic integrity is a fruition of this unjust and inhumane ideology. The stratagem to obliterate the Kashmiris right to self-determination has been through settler colonialism. Up till now, India has granted domicile status to more than 300,000 non-resident Hindus.
The Modi government has defied the UN resolutions on Kashmir and took the decision single handed. Not only did the fascist regime defied the special status of the disputed territory and converted it into a union territory, but also slammed the international law by resorting to extra judicial killings and not handing the bodies to the aggrieved families for their proper burial.
When the worst could have not been imagined by the Kashmiris, the pandemic broke out. Modi government took this to advantage, as expected. The lockdown measures were prolonged. Lack of internet access proved to be a peril for the ill patients who could not avail government healthcare. It has also undermined medical community’s guideline to fight the pandemic. Moreover, the bloodshed in the valley revived during the corona time. Another freedom fighter Riaz Naikoo was killed by Indian police among many others.
The pandemic is being used by the Indian authorities to mute the Kashmiri voices and overshadow the Kashmir cause. All parties group on Kashmir released a joint statement saying that we are concerned, during these unprecedented times, that the Indian authorities are using the pandemic to silence Kashmiri voices by eradicating Kashmiri leadership and demoralizing and destroying civil society.
Despite the sufferings of living under state sponsored terrorism, the Kashmiris have not lost hope. They are still fighting for their land and for those who have laid their lives to achieve the just cause. The unabated resistance of Kashmiris has unveiled the facade of the Hindutva prologues. The Modi government has clearly failed in Kashmir. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has slammed the national government for revoking the autonomy of the Muslim-majority state Jammu and Kashmir and imposing restrictions that negatively impacted religious freedom.
The condemnation also comes from the Arabs who have openly ridiculed the racist mindset of the Indian government. The BJP-RSS regime have lost their international credibility. It becomes even more imperative now than before to highlight this issue, as the Indian atrocities on Kashmiri Muslims have become manifold during the corona crisis. Pakistan must continue its diplomatic efforts and forward the case of Kashmir till the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) get their right of self-determination.
Also Read: Kashmir: A Perfect Replica of Hell
