Pushravith Chay Wavsi Nao!

A Kashmiri proverb aptly describing the leaderless Kashmiri nation!

For past sometime, the people have been receiving various directives from the leaders for shutdowns and marches. Shutdowns have in the long run harmed common people more than given any nightmares to the authorities in Srinagar and Delhi. The marches as usual have been scuttled by confining people to their homes by imposing “Restrictions” or by the now notorious illegal measure, the “Undeclared Curfew”! This situation is best described by the Kashmiri proverb saying that the boat has been left at the mercy of the winds!
Any boat moving in water be it a river or a lake, needs apart from the oarsmen, someone to hold the rudder and steer it towards a particular destination. The strength and ability of a rudder man is under severe test during a storm. Such a storm has risen by the unprecedented victory of the “Saffron Brigade” in India. If the rudder man of the boat has the grit and cool he can steer it in spite of the lashing winds and take it along with its occupants to the ultimate destination. If the rudder man abandons his boat in a storm, it is then along with the passengers at the mercy of the winds. In such an event, the boat has no chance of either reaching the destination or even being saved from capsizing along with the occupants! This is precisely what is happening to the people of Kashmir at the present juncture. The boat has been left at the mercy of the lashing winds! No one knows where it will go or even whether it will float or capsize?
Before one contemplates the fate of the drifting boat of Kashmir it would be useful to first outline as to what this boat comprises of and who all are in it. Presently Kashmir all over the world is taken to be the erstwhile princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. The word Kashmir embraces all the parts of the state and the people living therein. Various parts of the state are under the administration of three countries. China holds Aksai Chin part of Ladakh through which it has taken a road to connect Tibet with Sinkiang. Pakistan administers the part of Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir and a separate area earlier called Northern Areas and now known as Gilgit-Baltistan. This area is virtually merged into Pakistan as it is directly controlled from Islamabad. India has Jammu, Ladakh and the valley of Kashmir under its administrative control. Thus Kashmir is not a single boat but a full-fledged flotilla.
Most of the individual boats in the flotilla except Kashmir are nearer their goals or have almost reached these. It is practically the valley of Kashmir with its periphery of Kashmiri speaking people, historically called the “Greater Kashmir” which is still adrift. Even though there are plenty of oarsmen ready to row the boat to a particular destination yet the boat is adrift and left on the mercy of winds because there is no one to chart a course and steer it by holding the rudder! A ship without a captain can never reach the destination. The immediate task for a real captain of the Kashmiri ship or the boat is to separate his vessel from a flotilla going in different directions. He has to then confirm the destination where his passengers want to go. After this he must chart a course to reach it and steer the boat accordingly.
Unfortunately, none of the leaders from every side is clear about the ultimate goal and the ways and the means to reach it. Confused leaders are giving confused goals.  Everything is vague. The mainstream leaders give goals for good governance on one hand and at the same time claim to lead the people to the final solution of the political problem. Because of the corrupt system nurtured and headed by them, so far they have miserably failed in achieving both their professed aims. On the other hand, the leaders heading the popular movement seem to be confused about the goal as well as the road to reach it. The first task for them is to define in concrete and lucid terms the goal they want people to reach. Moreover, the goal has to be the one realistically achievable and not a utopian dream! Merely saying that this would be done once the people are given the right to decide their future dispensation is leaving the goal as something vague and shrouded in mystery! After presenting a concrete and achievable goal, one has to show the practical means to reach there and then be a guide to tread the path. A practically achievable goal given by honest and sincere leaders automatically creates an urge among the people to reach it. As the famous poet of the East, Dr. Iqbal has said in the famous couplet, in servitude the swords and strategies do not work. If one has the strength of conviction and the urge, the chains fall off on their own! 

Asking Lotuses from the Lotus Eaters

In response to Arun Jaitley's recent statement about Kashmir

Arun Jaitley, the new Indian Finance and Defence Minister during his recent visit to Kashmir valley while addressing the BJP workers asked them to give him five Lotus Flowers from Kashmir. “Give me at least five Lotus flowers from Kashmir in Assembly polls. This is a land of Saffron and Lotus. I need five flowers from this land”. He probably did not know that Kashmir is also known as the “Land of the Lotus Eaters”! Kashmiris are very fond of the seeds and the roots of the Lotus flower and have been eating these for centuries. Lotus is also the symbol of BJP and Saffron is their colour. Interestingly, Kashmir has been extensively referred in Greek chronicles, the Chinese Annals of the Tang dynasty, and Arabic literature.  From the ancient times, Kashmiris have been connected extensively with the lands in the West and the North. Compared to this there is lamentable lack of exact geographical mention of Kashmir in Sanskrit literature. Judging from the extreme scantiness of the data, it is clear that Kashmir to them was a country foreign and remote in every way. The name Kasmira is mentioned as the designation of the country and its people but in a very vague fashion. The Mahabharata refers in many passages to Kasmiras and their rulers but in a general manner without giving distinct location of the country. The most specific piece of information regarding Kashmir that Sanskrit literature outside the Valley furnishes is in the term Kasmira or Kasmiraja that designates Saffron and Kustha for which it was famous since ancient times. In that regard, Arun Jaitley is very correct. Kashmir for Indians generally denoted the land of Saffron. Lotus does not find any mention as there was no BJP then!
As India is now totally Saffron coloured so they are very keen to own and keep the ancient Land of Saffron. Unfortunately for them, the land is now totally coloured in Green. The transformation took place in the most peaceful way though the most revered saint of Kashmir, Mir Sayed Ali Hamadani popularly known as Shah-i-Hamadan. However, Kashmiris have been so much impressed by the mysticism of these saints that there has been no violence against other religions. It is the most tolerant Islamic Society in the world. Violence whenever it has occurred has been imported and not of Kashmiri origin. The most famous symbol of Kashmir known throughout the world these days is the green Chinar. One fails to understand why everyone from India wants to revive the long past ancient Hindu history of Kashmir rather than accept its present very tolerant Islamic character? Kashmir can only fit in the Indian mosaic if it is allowed to retain its present colour.
Arun Jaitley did not even have the courtesy to ask for the Lotus flowers in humility! He threatened the people with the rod of AFSPA and the Indian Constitution. One cannot expect a person of such stature to be oblivious of the ground situation in Kashmir. It would have been more humble and appropriate if he had paid his homage to the Sufi Saints of Kashmir. He should have as a gentleman declared that his government would definitely honour the wishes and the aspirations of the local people in a non-violent manner. He could have offered a corruption free governance and freedom of expression. Arun Jaitly should have remembered Pandit Kalhana’s saying, “The country of Kashmir may be conquered by the force of spiritual merit, but not by the force of soldiers”!
However, much water has flown down Jhelum during the last couple of decades. The new generation of Kashmiris is totally alienated and refuses to be cowed done by the rod of AFSPA or the Indian Constitution. They have been pelting stones against the bullets. It would be advisable for the Indian Lotus to respect the Kashmir’s natural green colour and not try for the saffronisation of the valley. The valley’s new generation is capable of not only eating the Indian Lotus but its roots also! Who knows the valley may prove the ultimate nemesis for the Indian Lotus?

KHEER BHAWANI MELA

GREETINGS TO ALL MY KASHMIRI PANDIT FRIENDS ON KHEER BHAWANI MELA. THE COLOUR OF THE SPRING IS BLUISH WHITE WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD OMEN FOR KASHMIR.

Part-time freedom fighters!

Kashmir’s leaders now appear to be fighting for freedom on part-time basis

If one takes 1931 as the real starting year of the freedom movement in Kashmir then the struggle has been going on now for almost 83 years ! This movement has seen many ups and downs, twists and turns. A few generations have passed since the start of the movement. However, the ultimate goal still appears distant. There have been many upheavals, some very bloody during the course of this movement. The decade of nineties was probably the bloodiest in the entire struggle when over a hundred thousand people were killed. Thousands disappeared without a trace and are still unaccounted for. Dozens of mass graves of unknown people are scattered all over the valley. In spite of all the turns and twists, the sentiment of “Azadi” continues to be very strong among one and all. “Azadi” may not seem to be round the corner but it continues to be the cherished dream of every freedom loving Kashmiri. There is a deceptive perception that Kashmiris have reconciled to the status quo. The reality is totally different from the appearance. As a British author has said, a Kashmiri never opens his heart to an outsider and no one can truly know what is really in his heart! One has also to concede that a Kashmiri is a very intelligent person. Centuries of oppressive rule have taught him many ways of survival in the most difficult conditions. His newest strategy is to keep the sentiment alive and at the same time continue to survive against all odds.
Kashmiris have often been given the label of the “Lotus Eaters” in a derogatory sense for their apathy and very stoical behaviour. However, history of the freedom movement makes them the “Lotus Eaters” of a different kind. They behave like a sleeping giant who wakes up from time to time to claim his basic rights and then goes back to deep sleep! Even if Kashmiris behave as periodic lotus eaters yet no one can deny the fact that they are great survivors. Any other nation in their place would have vanished after centuries of extreme oppression. However, their main misfortune has been their leadership. They have been sold and resold by their own so called leaders. It has always been the deprived class which has been exploited by these so called leaders. The upper classes from all sides have been the beneficiaries. The situation has been compounded at present by the leaders, who are themselves confused about the goals they ask their followers to pursue! Some of them professing to follow the so called mainstream promise the people improvement in governance and living conditions but end by leaving them on the road side in the worst conditions than they were earlier. Some others promise total emancipation where they will live with dignity and self-respect but fail to define exactly in what type of a political status that would be possible and how to attain that. Confused leaders with confused goals!
The Kashmiri elite have one point programme of making money and getting material possessions. They do cherish the sentiment of “Azadi” but at the same time want good living. In last two decades more than a couple of lakh new houses have been built all over the valley. The city of Srinagar has expanded more than 30 kilometres across. Paddy lands have been wantonly converted into orchards or utilised for constructing houses and shops. Some of the new houses must have cost crores of rupees to build especially with all imported fittings, furnishing and so on. All this has been dead investment especially with over half a million unemployed youth. Every year Kashmir imports over rupees 500 crores worth cars of all makes! This money could have been utilised in productive investment in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and animal husbandry providing many employment opportunities. All this freely available money has turned us into morons shunning manual labour for which we have imported almost a million outsiders. We have workers both skilled and unskilled from Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Assam, and Punjab. There are also some from Orissa and some other states. These people apart from working as domestic help work in paddy fields, on construction sites and so on. They work as carpenters, plumbers, mechanics and even as bakers and sweet/pudding sellers at different shrines. In winter some of these outsiders especially Biharis work in harissa shops! Even Kashmir’s traditional cooks Wazas are employing Biharis as additional hands. The way the leaders are now fighting for freedom on part time basis, a day is not far off when we may outsource this movement also! In fact, there has been loud talk sometime back about Taliban coming to Kashmir after American exit from Afghanistan. Kashmiris have always been secretly harbouring a wish that someone else preferably from outside may get them emancipated! They had been banking upon for a long time on Pakistan to do the needful but now they have given up this hope because that state itself is in doldrums. There is so much bleeding going on within their own country that they have forgotten the jugular vein! Some have even been wishing USA to bail out Kashmir.
So, if Kashmiris want “Azadi”, they have to first make up their mind and convert their wish into an urge! One does not need to be a violent militant to be a freedom fighter. If one develops the urge, the chains fall off on their own!

Reflections on election 2014

The Indian election has revealed certain basic truths and holds many far reaching portents.

The globally touted myth of India being the largest democratic secular country seems to have been shattered by the recent election. Yes, it may still be proclaimed to be democratic but the moot point is whether it is a practising democracy as understood in the west? To be really democratic, the population of a country needs to be fully educated and enlightened about the very concept of democracy. There is a difference between a politically conscious and matured populace and a mobocracy. No doubt an average citizen anywhere cannot distinguish between the immediate result and the far reaching consequences. Usually, people in general are swayed by their immediate needs.

In that regard, the election has been claimed to be totally democratic as the majority view is supposed to have prevailed. However, as per information available NDA got only 31% vote share. Thus 69% view is not reflected by this win! Again, it is debatable whether this so called majority view was reached through honest democratic means. It is true that the last decade of Congress led rule has been disastrous for India as regards the basic needs of the common people. While the grass roots people have been crushed by rising prices and unemployment, the rich have grown richer not by honest means but by corruption, dishonesty and manipulation. Out of a GDP of 1.61 trillion dollars, the scams account for 1.1 trillion dollars which amounts to 60%. Had the scam money instead of being stashed abroad in foreign banks been utilised for the benefit of the common people, India by now should have been one of the leading welfare states!

The so called Modi wave swept Congress like a tsunami but mostly in the traditional cow belt. The Hindutva appeal swayed the Vedanta Hindus. The Saivites, the Hindus in the South have not been so much affected. Apart from the basic difference in the two schools of spiritual thought, the North has a very strong inherent grouse against the Muslims. The Indian mainland faced series of invasions from the Muslim conquerors like Mahmud of Gazni who invaded 17 times and destroyed the temple at Somnath. North India bore the brunt of these invasions. The South did not face such incursions. In fact, Islam came to India peacefully in the South during Prophet's (PBUH) own lifetime. The preachers came to Kerala where the first mosque built in India stands. The same is the case with the East. They were far off from the invasions. The pattern of the wave also confirms that the religion rather than development and governance have been the deciding factors. This basic contradiction may not augur well for the unity of India if the new dispensation persists with its anti-Muslim agenda of RSS who are primarily responsible for putting Modi in the driving seat. For all these 67 years India carried a thick coat of Nehru's "Secularism" paint. The present election practically scrapped the paint and India has come out as a Hindu Rashtra in true colours.

According to some people, Jinnah's two nation theory stands vindicated. However, it has been revealed by some historians that Jinnah himself did not believe in two nation theory or creation of a state on the basis of religion. This was evident from his first speech after the creation of Pakistan. He intended it to be a modern, progressive state where all including minorities would have equal rights. In fact, it is reported that he was not very keen about partition and it was his last resort as he failed to get proportional representation for Muslims in a united India. It is alleged by some that Nehru himself was keener on partition.

The ceasefire line set up in Kashmir after the first Indo-Pak war is quoted by some as an example of his thinking on the subject. It is reported that during the first conflict the Indian forces could easily have overrun Azad Kashmir and even gone into mainland Pakistan. However, Nehru directed his Army Commanders to stop at the ceasefire line. When some top Army Officers questioned his wisdom not based on the field situation, he is reported to have convinced them that it was necessary to let Pakistan stay as a buffer zone between India and the Afghanistan and the other Central Asian countries. India had always been troubled by the invaders coming from/through Afghanistan. Pakistan is now a buffer for India. However, Nehru probably thought that Pakistan would soon break up and India would have a number of smaller manageable buffer states on the west to guard it against the invaders who had always been coming from that side. He could have probably never imagined that the buffer itself would become a headache for India and one day possibly result in the total annihilation of the entire sub-continent. With the phenomenal rise of Modi, we may someday face the Armageddon because of the fact of the both these states being nuclear armed!

In J & K, the unity of the state may be at stake. The Jammu supporters of BJP are keen for scrapping of Article 370 for effecting full and complete integration of the State with India. They have always been resenting the rule of Kashmiris over whom their ancestors ruled for a century. Ladakhis, the Buddhists of Leh and Kargil districts too desire direct rule from Delhi by getting a Union Territory status. Probably, they do not know that in a Union Territory which is federally administered, they will have lesser rights and safeguards than they have at present against the onslaught of the rich corporate sector. However, the trifurcation of the state cannot be undertaken without reviving the debate on the basic political issue of the final disposal of the disputed territory in UN Security Council where it continues to be an agenda item with a UN Military Group detailed by the Council being still present here. Internationalising Kashmir may be the last thing Narendra Modi wants to do after taking over as the Prime Minister of India. Even Pakistanis have been held back in their effort to grant a full-fledged provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan because of the apprehensions of violating the Security Council directions for not changing the status of the disputed territory.

A journalist friend recently wrote that Modi stands at a fork in the road and it is up to him which road he takes. Constructive reshaping of the sub-continent as well as South Asia or the ultimate destruction. Let us hope he takes the path of reconciliation and amelioration of the teeming millions rather than the leap into total oblivion!

Nemesis for Abdullahs!

The recent debacle is not the decimation of a nationalist movement but the nemesis of the dynastic rule!

After losing all the three valley parliament seats in addition to Jammu and Ladakh, Omar Abdullah has been seeking causes of the debacle from the people through emails. One cannot be more naïve than this. It is really pathetic and ironic that instead of introspection the scion of the Abdullah dynasty is asking the people whom they abandoned in the wilderness for power and money to give causes of the nemesis they are facing now. National Conference which started as the voice of Kashmir’s movement for total emancipation from centuries of oppression and neglect stands practically decimated today. It is a long story involving nemesis of a dynasty for their misdeeds rather than decimation of a political sentiment! In 1938 when the Muslim Conference was converted into National Conference, the underlying sentiment was the realisation of a progressive, social, secular New Kashmir. The manifesto prepared by BPL Bedi spoke of a Kashmir where people could live with dignity and honour which they had been deprived of, for centuries by outside rulers. Bedi had been influenced by the Russian revolution and many things in the manifesto as well as certain symbols like the red flag with plough, the historic red square were borrowed from the Russian revolution. The party was spearheaded by a colossus, the “lion of Kashmir”. People had total and absolute blind faith in their leader and followed his every dictate. Truly he had risen like a Messiah after centuries of darkness and wilderness. He used to often quote the verse that the Narcissus cries for thousands of years about its blindness and it is with great difficulty that a person with vision is born!  During his lifetime he made many somersaults but people still followed him because they never imagined that the “Messiah” will betray them and instead of taking them to their goal leave them in total wilderness!
However, the betrayal had started with the very act of converting the Muslim Conference which had spearheaded the movement for total emancipation in 1931 into National Conference in 1938 itself! He would often say in his speeches that he knew where the sympathies of the people lay but what he was aiming at was in their long term interest. He would always start his speeches by quoting the verses of the famous poet Iqbal regarding a person’s self-respect and dignity. The first somersault was his supporting and joining in 1947 the same autocratic Maharaja against whom he had led the “Quit Kashmir” movement in 1946. Had he continued with his own nationalistic movement without supporting the claims of the either of the newly created countries, the situation of Kashmir would have been totally different.
On realising his mistake he tried to make amends by proclaiming that the final disposal of the Kashmiris’ fate was still to come. The Indians after very neatly using him abandoned him on the roadside. He started the Plebiscite Front demanding a choice for Kashmiris to decide their own future. For this he suffered incarceration for 11 years but on getting released because of the massive upsurge caused by the lifting of the holy relic from the Hazratbal shrine, he continued to lead the people towards their cherished goal. Again he suffered incarceration and was exiled. His struggle may not have borne the fruit in his own lifetime but Kashmiris would be continuing with their original movement for emancipation popularly called “Azadi” under the banner of the original National Conference. However, probably because of fatigue and the compulsion of his family, he abandoned the Plebiscite Front and revived the National Conference to join the Indian mainstream as the State Chief Minister instead of the earlier Prime Minister which was his first designation on joining the Maharaja’s Government. He had compromised with Indira Gandhi on the understanding of reviving the earliest autonomy which was the basic condition of accession to India. However, Indira Gandhi never allowed him to do so and he died a sad man. It is tragically ironic that a man who rose like a morning star on the horizon of Kashmir fell like a meteor! The worst tragedy is that his grave which should have been the greatest shrine for Kashmiris alleged to be dead worshippers is a protectorate of the security forces!
In spite of all these somersaults of the leader, the people still considered National Conference their own Kashmiri nationalist party. In fact, Sheikh Abdullah had called the members of the newly created Indian Congress party as the “worms of the gutter”! The first real act of decimation started when Farooq Abdullah embraced these very “worms of the gutter” in 1987. It was probably for the first time that the Kashmiris were rudely shocked and felt totally lost and abandoned. They had considered National Conference their own party against the onslaughts of Delhi on their individuality. Now, there was a vacuum. The new generation comprising of the youth through the Muslim United Front tried to fill that vacuum. At that time they probably thought that they could go into the state assembly to proclaim their rights as independent people through the democratic process. However, Farooq Abdullah and Rajiv Gandhi jointly scuttled the democratic youth movement which ultimately resulted in the militant uprising of nineties. That was the real decimation of the National Conference. After that the once famous and strong National Conference was only a protégé of Delhi. Again Omar Abdullah was thrust on Farooq Abdullah by Delhi itself. They probably did not even trust him because of his unpredictable behaviour. In the ultimate analysis, the real cause of the decimation of the party once leading Kashmir’s nationalistic movement has been the dynastic nepotism nurtured and nourished by Delhi. So Omar Abdullah should not ask for emails regarding his ignominious defeat but delve into the history to understand the true causes of the total decimation of the once famous nationalistic party of Kashmir, the National Conference. The movement started in 1931 is destined to continue and reach the ultimate goal as a natural process, with or without National Conference. The sentiment has not been decimated but the party which abandoned its real goal has been decimated and the dynastic rule of Kashmir like that of the Nehru dynasty of mainland India has met its nemesis. This is a universal truth which has been the fate of the dynastic and undemocratic rule all over the world! The other dynasties in Kashmir need to learn a lesson from this fate and the new generation of Kashmiris needs to ponder on this.

NaMo buys Premiership!

After a massive sales promotion financed by the corporates, Narendra Modi appears to have bought the Premiership of India!

Most of the exit polls indicate that NDA may get the majority and their Prime Ministerial candidate may finally become the Prime Minister of India! Even though these exit polls have gone wrong many times in the past, yet the general impression given by all the channels is that NDA may get a comfortable majority to form the new government. From the extensive media coverage it was evident that Narendra Modi was selling himself as a product rather than a living person with feelings, emotions, and principles. He was advertised as a very attractive and nice buyable product promising moon to poor Indians. Thousands of crores were spent on this product promotion. Continuous coverage on electronic media, thousands of hoardings all over India, all sorts of goodies distributed among the prospective voters including even bread stamped as “Modi”! There was no dearth of money. Arundhati Roy has been proved right in her claim that India is an “Upper Caste Corporate Hindu Republic”! This election confirmed that fact starkly. Corporates boosted NaMo as their man!
India claims to be the largest democracy in the world and also a secular country. Both these claims have been torn to shreds by this election. The slogan of the present election was “A Billion Votes!” It was proclaimed all over the world by all the media channels even though some foreign channels including CNN pointed out that there were only 800 million voters. However, no one educated the viewers as to what kind of voters these people were? 70% Indians live in rural areas. Almost 35% population of India is below poverty line who cannot even afford a square meal. A rural poor has no notion of political ideology or the modern development and governance. He needs, “Roti, Kapda aur Makaan”, the bread, cloth, and shelter. To them Modi was presented as a saviour promising to fulfil all their material needs. The same voters were earlier presented Indira Gandhi as Indira Rani and even as the Goddess Durga. Even though during the present election, the one slogan given everywhere was development and governance, yet in reality the religion and the caste were the main thrust areas. The think tanks for the campaign were from RSS whose nominee Narendra Modi is. They even discarded the stalwarts like Advani and Jaswant Singh in preference to Modi. It was the RSS dream to have the Akhand Bharat which they wanted to realise through Narendra Modi who became notorious after the Gujarat massacre of Muslims. For them Narendra Modi fulfilled all the requisite criteria to become a “Hindu Hitler”. Incidentally, the Nazi swastika is also the symbol of these Hindutva brigades. It is said that Hitler adopted the symbol from India itself as it represents the pure Aryan race, the purity of which was his obsession! In fact, Shehzad Poonawalla in an article, Hitler “Modi-fied”, published in Countercurrents relates very sinister similarities between the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and NaMo in India!The possible taking over of Modi as the Prime Minister of India has sent alarm signals in many quarters especially among the Muslim minority of India. People are apprehensive that Modi will immediately unleash the Hindutva agenda in every sphere. Even Pakistanis have been alarmed as was evident from the declaration of their Army Chief regarding Kashmir being their jugular vein. However, in reality that may not happen. He will definitely follow the policy outlined by Chanakya in his famous treatise, the Arthshastra. Even in their earlier tenure, the BJP took its own time to infiltrate the administrative and security apparatus while wearing the mask of “Insaniyat” (humanity). This was evident from the large number of the former security and administrative personnel joining the BJP bandwagon just before the election. The first and foremost task for NaMo will be to get acceptability in the West as also with India’s neighbours. At the present moment India appears to be in a confrontational attitude with all its neighbours. Following the footsteps of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, NaMo may also wear the Vajpayee’s mask of humanity and go soft till he takes the grip of the administrative and the security apparatus and gains acceptability both within and outside India. Kashmir may naturally go on the back-burner in view of other pressing problems. Raising the communal pitch and national security issues during the election is different than facing the problems of governance and development head on for which people have generally voted him. Kashmir has always been the last handle to be used in case of failure of other pressing measures. In fact, a few years back during the mass upheaval in Kashmir, some of the ideologues of RSS had suggested disinvesting Kashmir in the larger economic interests of India. It was suggested that to get massive NRI investments in corporate sector it may be worthwhile to get rid of Kashmir along with the perennial uncertainty resultant from it in the entire sub-continent. One will have to keep the fingers crossed and hope for the best!