The whys of Kashmiriyat

THE WHYS OF KASHMIRIYAT!?

BY

MURALI MURTHY

What made me go and watch the movie?

The hype around the movie, politicization, constant promotions by actors and the Director on TV Channels and claims / reviews that said it depicts "exactly" what happened to Hindus in Kashmir and truths unearthed which was never told before. I also wanted to prove I am not an "anti-national" as many Politicians and Devotees said those who dont watch the movie are anti-nationals.

How did I find the Movie?

Leaving the feelings (emotions, hindu pride, nationalism) aside, as a pure 3 hours Movie experience, it was extremely slow, couldn't engage the audience all 3 hours.

For me, the stand out performances were from Pallavi Joshi as Prof Radhika and Darshan Kumar as Krishna Pandit.

Now that I have proved I am not an anti-Hindu, anti-national by watching the Movie, am I still obligated to say I loved the Movie?

What did the Movie convey to me?

It's a Movie telling the story of one family's sufferings during the ethnic cleansing by "freedom fighters" in 1989-90. The systematic failure, willingly turning a blind eye by State and Central Govts  is evident. The aspirations, desire for an independent, Islamic State by majority Kashmiris made them take extreme, inhuman and murderous means to achieve their objective. Ofcourse, Pakistan was always there to meddle and fuel the fire.

Did they target Hindus and kicked them out of their own homes?

Undoubtedly, all Kashmir Pandits were Forcefully evicted from not only their homes, but from Kashmir itself by the most cruel possible means.

As heard before and carefully observed in the movie, Kashmiris in the first place never identified themselves as part of India, they always believed India has forcefully, illegally holding and claiming Kashmir to be part of their own.

Their anger, rage was directed towards India and anything that represented India. 

They found targets in Hindus/ Kashmiri Pandits, and all the killings, torture and violence was done to hurt India and achieve a sense of freedom and thereby disconnecting from India.

Now that Hindus are not there, they are targeting Armymen and Military installations, as that's representation of India in Kashmir.

Was the Movie true representation of what happened then and unearths the untold story?

Most of us always knew the Exodus of Hindus in Kashmir happened. But the Movie emphasises that it was a Genocide where mass number of Hindus were massacred. The movie did reaffirm that the rage and cleansing is still happening, where as latest as 2003, Nandimarg Massacre was brutal and cruel.

It can be disputed if everything told in the movie is true or represents facts. End of the day, it's a story narrated to suit one side of the story.

There will always be two truths in a story, each truth is believed to be the absolute, gospel truth to the side believing in them.

For Ex: Though the entire world believes Russia is invading Ukraine and are massacring innocent people and being inhuman, Russia's side justifies the war and their side of truth makes them Right.

Is India right in claiming Kashmir to be part of India?

Ofcourse yes. As even mentioned in the Movie, Kashmir has always been a center of excellence, where great thinkers and philosophers like Shankaracharya and Madhwacharya came to Kashmir for research and learning.

Kashmir has always been part of cultural heritage since the days of Civilization.

Due to It's proximity to Islamic nations, it was invaded, ruled by Mughals for over 7 centuries! And in their trademark style, Mughals systematically converted the land they ruled and made it Islamist state.

By the time British even entered India, Kashmir had practically become an Islamic State and the minority Hindus were effectively living in foreign soil!

Is the Movie used for Propoganda?

Though I didn't find anything in the Movie to create a cultural divide or righting a historical wrong, the present dispensation is surely leaving no stones unturned by using it to push their agenda and pushing convenient narratives.

Exaggerating and drawing unparallel comparisons with Bengal and Kerala, just because they can't win an election there!

If they are genuinely concerned for Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits, instead of being Mum on this issue for 3 decades, they could take action on ground to correct the nation's failures.

Giving credit to the work done by BJP, abrogation of Article 370 is definitely step 1.

After all, the Movie was produced by Zee, which is owned by a BJP MP. They will use a sensitive issue to their advantage and push their hyper-nationalism agenda!

As one of my friends said "Instead of instilling nationalism, patriotism, you walk out depressed".