Ramananda Sengupta puts it quite bluntly and appropriately in his recent piece. why Kashmir, start to give India away.

and if what he quotes has any truth in it, about intelligence sources saying that all this is a 'trial balloon' being floated by the UPA govt - let them just start on track and see what people's reaction will be. the movement they will precipitate will leave no one, no political party standing on its feet.

battle for Kashmir's soul is the battle for India's soul

I have also sometimes pessimistically thought, 'ok lets just give up this piece of land, why keep fighting these rogues'. in pretty much the same vein as Mandooka does in his recent post.

But I was discussing with a friend of mine the other day and she reminded me of something, 'what about the rest of India then? many states have muslim majority areas. some states like UP, Bihar, Assam and WB have huge Muslim poulations, equalling or more than 25% of the state total'

extend those lines, and you have a recipe for a deadly broth. the majority areas in these regions could also follow the 'kashmir path': ethnically cleanse the Hindus and others out, claim a 'unique culture watered by the great river of Islam', 'historically separate' and then want to secede.

so ultimately, there is no short-term solution to the problem of Kashmir valley. we cannot give in to bullying by separatists. we have been very shoddy in the past 60 years in handling this problem. the battle in Kashmir is not about Pakistani landgrab or jehadi separatism per se, it actaully the battle for India's very soul: the very idea of what India is.

Can a people sharing a common spiritual culture yet diverse and even disparately different in practical matters manage to live together in harmony through the philosophy of Dharma? 'yes' is the Truth enshrined as India's soul. 'No' says Muslim separatism on the subcontinent. In fact Muslim separatism and extremism hold similar views all over the world. This battle cannot be won if we do not corner the moderate section and converse with it directly with the light from the lamp of India's soul flashed on its face. We have to engage all sections of Indian society and make them accept the idea of India - not just the Hindus, as has been done always.

in the Kashmir valley, we must slowly build a relationship with the moderate and rational leadership of the civil society. we must engage in a debate with them on the issues of sovereignty, religious fanaticism and pluralism, economic growth, freedom. I am sure the idea of India has enough to cover their aspirations in all these respects. I think this is the long term way forward. In the short term, we must not allow separatists to get away with mischief such as passing off a murder of their leader as a killing by security forces or creating an artificial myth of 'economic blockade'. also the larger civil society in India must rap the political class for their absentee leadership and bankrupt vision.

post-independence day reflections

the ever so sublime lyrics in the heart-rending voice of Manna Dey..

'Ai mere pyarey watan'

Aye mere pyaarey watan aye mere bichhade chaman tujh pe dil kubraan
too hee meree aarazoo, too hee meree aabaru, too hee meree jaan

tere daaman se jo aaye, un hawaaon ko salaam
choom loo mai us zubaan ko jis pe aaye teraa naam
sab se pyaaree subah teree, sab se rangee teree shaam

maa kaa dil bankey kabhee seene se lag jaataa hai too
aaur kabhee nanheesee betee ban ke yaad aataa hai too
jitnaa yaad aataa hai too, utanaa tadapaataa hai too

chhodakar teree zameen ko door aa pahuche hain hum
fir bhee hai yahee tamannaa tere zarro kee kasam
hum jahaan paidaa huye, us jagah hee nikle ye dam