Anupam Kher's views on Kashmiri Pandits demean Muslims and should be ignored

Anupam Kher - the Bollywood actor who has donned many hats in his acting career – has suddenly become a bleeding heart liberal. Kher, tracing his lineage to Kashmir, has gone public and made some startling assertions. The context to these assertions is the controversial plan to rehabilitate Kashmiri pundits in separate townships.  As a Kashmiri Muslim, the most insulting and ignorant of these assertions has been, ‘Should Jews apologise to Germans?’ This assertion is in the nature of a response to a member of the legislative assembly who had said that Kashmiri Pandits should apologise to Kashmiri Muslims for their migration. Granted that the MLAs assertion is rather ludicrous, but what cheek on the part of Kher to draw comparisons between Nazis and Kashmiri Muslims. If Kher’s remarks are not in the nature of a faux pas, there is a clear sub-text to what he has said. The implication is Kashmiri Muslims are barbaric Nazis and that the Kashmiri Pandit exodus amounted to genocide. I, as a Kashmiri Muslim, find these assertions of the famous actor insulting, damaging and unacceptable.  While the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is a sad and tragic incident in Kashmir’s torturous history and it is imperative that they return to their homeland and not be rootless individuals, it stands to reason that it was not the majority community that drove them out. It was neither genocide, nor ethnocide nor a forced exile. Drawing parallels with Nazi Germany and the Jews is a flight of fancy and stems from a combination of prejudice and ignorance. Evidence surrounding the Pandit exodus is murky and circumstantial. [caption id=“attachment_2194677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: Twitter[/caption] Dwelling on the nature and the form of the exodus may, however, be besides the point here. Why dwell on the past when the future awaits us? And what is pertinent and germane is finding an honourable and workable solution to bring the Pandits home. However, there is a caveat here: the nature of Kashmiri Pandits’ return should not be politicised.  It should be informed by civic and common sense. It also stands to reason that Kashmiri Pandits live in Kashmir as equal citizens like their compatriots; not as protected and gated communities. A ghettoised existence, which Kher refers to as a ‘separatist concoction’, will not only be a fraught existence, but it will also create permanent psychological divisions between Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits. This obviously is not the path to reconciliation; it, however, is a sure-shot recipe for further estrangement and distance - emotional and psychological. Kashmir and all its inhabitants - Muslim or Pandit - need closure over the Pandit exodus and not a jarring presence in the form of gated or ghettoised communities that would be a grim reminder of power and power politics. But Kher would have none of this. He asserts a weak and jaundiced argument in support of his method of resettling Kashmiri Pandits: “How is it (not possible) that even if we go and live in those areas, that some separatist will not tell people or a mob ‘go and kill them?” Kher adds, “It was unfortunate that Kashmiri Pandits are made to feel like a refugee in their own country as they have been thrown out of their own house.” Again his assertions are demeaning and insulting to Kashmiri Muslims. Consider the former statement. It clearly implies that Kashmiris are either dumb cattle with no minds and sensibilities of their own and operate under the diktats of separatists. (In a curious twist, Kher speaks in first person plural, implying that he too is a victim. Kher and his family left Kashmir ages ago and he was brought up in Shimla. The use of the first person plural is a clever technique to use his profile and throw his lot with Kashmiri Pandits. Pity it took Kher such a long time to ‘find himself’). The latter statement is nonsensical. How can a person be a refugee in his own country? All in all then, Kher’s assertions suggest prejudice and ignorance - prejudice towards Kashmiri Muslims and ignorance about Kashmir and Kashmiris. The return of Kashmiri Pandits is an emotive and charged issue for all stakeholders. Prudence suggests that instead of being cavalier,  prejudiced, emotional and paranoid about the issue, the debate about the return should be informed by rationality. And rationality, in turn suggests, that Kashmiri Pandits return to Kashmir in a spirit of reconciliation, amity and brotherhood. Trust needs to be built up and nourished to make Kashmir revert to the spirit of pluralism that has historically defined it. Kashmir Pandits are an indelible part of the Kashmiri societal, cultural and even emotional landscape. We want them back but as part and parcel of the Kashmiri polity and society; not as isolated , autonomous communities grafted artificially onto Kashmir in ghettos. This will correspond to the spirit of Kashmir. The solutions trotted out by deracinated Kashmiris like Kher are a non-starter. They divide; not unite.