As some of you know my Mom is a member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and yesterday (rather today morning) she came back home after a week long trip to Kashmir via several different cities/states.
This trip was made specifically with the aim of flying the Indian national flag at Lal Chowk and the yatra was named ‘Sadbhavana Yatra’ which roughly translates to Peace trip. The trip was envisioned because on 26th Jan 2010 there was no unfurling of the Indian flag at Lal Chowk in Kashmir. Which is sad and embarrassing. To make things even better at no point in time before this trip has the Indian flag flown alone in Kashmir. It is always accompanied by the Kashmir flag at the same height which as you might know is unconstitutional. So this was the first time that the Indian Flag was flown alone in Kashmir.
According to mom, as soon as they entered Kashmir their convoy was harassed in increasingly belligerent tones to take the flag down (All their cars were flying the Indian flag) and it got to the point that they were worried about attacks to their caravan and even a mid-night police raid to arrest them at their hotel. The initial plan was for them to fly the flag at Lal Chowk at 10am but when they saw the amount of anti-nationalism and the threat of attack they unfurled the flag at 5am instead and then left soon thereafter. Even then a lot of the people who saw the unfurling opposed it with one person who tried snatching the flag to prevent it from being unfurled.
Now you might be wondering why this is a case, how can a state act against the country and not fear retaliation by the rest of the country. I am wondering the same thing. How can our Prime Minister, President and the MP’s allow this state to so consistently insult India?
A lot of it is because Kashmir only joined India when it was invaded by Pakistan and the only way it could secure aid from India was to agree to become part of India. But that was 60 years ago, their king made the decision and now they have to live with it. Pakistan poking their noses into it every few years haven’t helped either… along with all the other aid that is being provided to the militant factor in Kashmir to prevent the ‘repression’ of the Muslims in the area by the Hindu’s.
I think its past time that the Indian government grew a backbone and sorted out this problem once and for all.. The loss of life and property in Kashmir is appalling and the situation won’t change unless those in power take a decision and then back it up by force if required.
– Suramya