Kashmir Times
November 12, 2008
Sinha’s sinister game plan
Former governor comes out in true colours
IF anybody had any doubts about former Jammu and Kashmir governor, S.K Sinha’s Hindu right wing credentials, they are now long over since he openly began choosing to share platform with the Sangh Parivar to resort his favourite past time of bashing Kashmiris, rather Muslims. In the various forums that he has
addressed throughout the country ever since he relinquished office in Jammu and
Kashmir this summer, Sinha has made no bones about his contempt for the Muslims, particularly Kashmiris or his scant respect for democracy and notions of
equality. His bid to claim patent rights over Kashmiriyat, which he claims was
something that he in his gubernatorial role was trying to teach the people of
the state, while branding Kashmiris as Talibans has been more pronounced after
his exit from Jammu and Kashmir. He has left no opportunity in either demonizing
the Kashmiris or displaying his unfathomed love for the Sangh Parivar. The
latest occasion in this series was the launching ceremony of a website portal on
BJP leader Lal Kishen Advani. Strangely, he turned that occasion to sing paeans
in praise of former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. That, however, should not
have come as a surprise since Azad during his tenure as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister is known to have maintained cordial relations with the former governor owing to his own political compulsions of trying to use Sinha as a counter
weight against Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Both Sinha and Mufti did not get along
well from the day one. Besides, the hectic politicking that both Congress and
PDP engaged in over the Amarnath land issue, bringing the state to a disastrous
point, the Azad led Congress had shown an obvious tilt to Sinha and his designs.
While the compulsions of the PDP ministers, who had earlier been hesitant and
rather resisting efforts of land transfer to Amarnath Shrine Board, in finally
signing the order are not known, that Sinha was inspired by the idea of trying
to increase the Hindutava influence in the Valley is lucidly clear. Azad’s
support to Sinha does not only seem to have stemmed purely from his petty
political needs but also his dream of bringing in favourite hoteliers from
outside the state to Pahalgam-Sonamarg side, evident from Sinha’s proposal of
handing over the Pahalgam and Sonamarg development authorities to the Shrine
Board. Sinha’s praise for Azad, thus, was a calculated move, as is his measured
contempt for the Kashmiris in pursuance of his Hindutava agenda. That he was
doing it at the behest of the Sangh Parivar becomes clearer with his apparent
and open proximity to the men at important positions within the Saffron Brigade.
In retrospect, it is important to understand in the right perspective the perils
of the fallout of what Sinha engineered in this state, not only provoking the
Kashmiris but also creating a corridor for the Hindu right wing to make inroads
into parts of Jammu region, something that nobody had managed to make in the
last several decades. Even as things have cooled down in Jammu region and the
communal polarisation has been subdued a bit, troubles are far from over. A
comparative study of areas within this country where saffron brigade has created
trouble like Gujarat and Kandhamal would reveal that the systematic pattern of
strategies at the initial stages in these places bear a resemblance with the
manner in which people were mobilised in Jammu. It would, therefore, be foolish
to be complacent or dismiss the entire Jammu agitation as a spontaneous response inspired by discontent. If both the people at the helm of affairs as also the Jammuites fail to understand it, they will be condemned and compelled to pursue the designs that the RSS and rest of the Sangh Parivar are sketching for the entire state. In the backdrop of the revelations from investigations in the
Malegaon blasts, and earlier the Nanded and Thane blasts though for some reason
negated by the CBI, which indicate that those involved in the conspiracy did
have a Jammu link. These linkages clearly demonstrate the implications of the
Hindutava design that the Sangh Parivar, endorsed officially by Sinha as
governor of the state, is pursuing in this sensitive state. That this agenda is
still being pursued is evident from Sinha’s utterances in the recent past. The
activities of the Sangh, which is known too quietly operate before it can
dangerously mobilise people in pursuance of its fascist and communal agenda may also come out on the surface sooner or later.
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