Thirty-third year of exile: How BJP's 'Naya Kashmir' has not been able to ensure justice to Pandits

Over a decade ago, when I received the picture of my ancestral house in Kashmir for the first time since the forced displacement in 1990, I showed it to my grandfather. He stared at the picture with absolute stillness, did not utter a single word, and retired to his room. It was the year 2012. A year later, my grandfather passed away in Jammu. Several years ago, he had declined to sell the ancestral house and land when a couple of Muslim neighbours visited him. His wife, my grandmother, had already departed from this world in 2001. Nobody from our family had visited Kashmir since 1990. I kept persuading my parents for a long time and they finally agreed to a family trip to Kashmir in the autumn of 2016. They had been avoiding it for years because of what had happened in the past. However, the trip did not happen as Kashmir erupted in the summer of 2016, after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani by Indian security forces on 8th July. My father passed away in 2017 after battling cancer for a few months. The family trip to Kashmir, especially to our native village, never happened. I did visit Kashmir, as a pilgrim finding my way home, after my father’s death but the family visit has not happened to date. It will remain incomplete even if I do so now. Not visiting Kashmir with my father is something which I will miss till the very end. There are many things to talk about – ancient civilization, folklore, personal experiences, survival stories – and yet there is nothing left to say. It has been more than three decades since an indigenous Hindu civilization in Kashmir was obliterated by the soldiers of Islam for the goal of Azadi in post-independent India. Kashmiri Pandits, the ethnic minority community of Kashmir, will mark the beginning of their 33rd year of exile this 19th of January, 2023. Amid the clamour of Naya Kashmir propagated by the Narendra Modi government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kashmiri Pandits remain steadfast to the idea of home – the home which they lost because of being Hindus and Indians. The idea of home in Kashmir may not manifest in the years to come, given the prevailing situation, but it offers a sense of belonging to the exiled community. As political parties trade charges over the plight of the community, it is the BJP that must be held accountable for their actions or lack of it vis-à-vis Pandits as the party has been in power for eight and a half years. The party has always vocalised the issues concerning Pandits as part of their politics. This is not to say that the misconduct of mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) such as Indian National Congress (INC), National Conference (NC), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be discounted. Such parties have indulged in competitive separatism for their politics in J&K. BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections stated: “The return of Kashmiri Pandits to the land of their ancestors with full dignity, security and assured livelihood will figure high on the BJP’s agenda.” Further, the 2019 election manifesto reiterated: “We will make all efforts to ensure the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits.” With the recurrence of targeted killings of Pandits/Hindus and migrant workers sporadically by The Resistance Front (TRF), a Pakistan-backed terror outfit spearheading jihad in Kashmir, after a long hiatus, it has torn apart the tall stories made by the BJP government. Essentially, BJP has projected normalcy in Kashmir through the normalisation of minority killings. The loud proclamations by Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, in Lok Sabha in February 2021 have fallen flat as the government has not been able to resettle 6,000 Pandits in Kashmir by the end of 2022. That the Modi government terms the resettlement plan of 6,000 Pandits through their employment as return and rehabilitation of the whole community is political skulduggery. In a conversation with The Indian Express, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha stated that the killings in Kashmir should not be viewed through the lens of religion. Sinha tried to speak the same language that Kashmir-centric mainstream parties and separatist groups have propagated over the years. To hide failure in safeguarding minorities in Kashmir, the Lieutenant Governor tried to obscure the fundamental of terrorism in Kashmir i.e., religion. It is nothing but denying the persecution of Pandits by Islamists in Kashmir. While terror outfits are loud and clear about jihad in Kashmir, the state is blinded by ‘Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat, Kashmiriyat’. Like in 1989-90, many Kashmiri Muslims are often found involved in terror activities – some of which are directed against Pandits, especially in 2020-22. This part of the Kashmir story has not changed even a bit. Pandits will continue to connect and reconnect with Kashmir in their ways at an individual level. However, they must rethink how they wish to continue their battle for justice and rights at the community level. Pandits must steer clear of those sections within, who have misled them on several occasions – they emerge and disappear while claiming to be ‘leaders’ of the community for their vested interests. In his Holocaust memoir Night, Elie Wiesel writes, “For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.” Thirty-three years later, home is an evocative memory and a distant dream for Kashmiri Pandits. For now, there will not be any homecoming for Pandits – only prolonged exile. The author is a writer and political commentator. He is the co-editor of book on Kashmir’s ethnic minority community titled ‘A Long Dream of Home: The Persecution, Exodus and Exile of Kashmiri Pandits’, published by Bloomsbury India. He tweets  @VaradSharma_. Views expressed are personal._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.