Monday, August 4, 2008

The Pied Piper and the Rats

The moment I got into my hotel room at Bhuvaneshwar I wanted to check out the latest on the Trust Vote.I switched on the Television.Omar Abdullah,one of the young voices of Kashmir,began his speech.On most occassions I have liked what he writes or speaks even if I disagree with his views.To be honest he has been a pleasant departure from his grandfather as well as his father who have known to be masters of rhetoric and two-facedness.
He began and as usual I expected him to speak like the way he would.But Alas ,it was run of the mill stuff,the stuff that intelligent,sorry cunning politicians would generally sayFor sometime I thought it was his father speaking.
I am a Muslim and an Indian and I dont see how the two are different.I was stumped.Is he the same man who only a week before was parroting Kashmiri Nationalism.Was he not the same guy who called the Muslim protestors upsurge against the land transfer to Amarnath Shrine as the national sentiment of Kashmir.So please let us know whether you are an Indian or a Kashmiri because you seem to contradict yourself.
Well there was more to come.We haven't destroyed temples and mosques.Well wasn't it his father's constituency and later his where many temples were destroyed and desecrated.Isn't it also true that he remained a mute spectator when all this was happening.Hasn't Kashmir seen more than 600 desecrated and broken temples,some razed to ground and the land occupied by local Muslims.Well Omar,you cannot fool all the people all the time.Look around your backyard and you will see temples in shambles.So please dont bullshit.Wandhama falls in Ganderbal ,Omar.It is right under your nose that 23 Pandits were masscared and the only temple in that area burnt.Now the case too stands closed and you have the cheek to say that ,We did not destroy temples.Dont you feel ashamed of yourself for lying so balatantly?
What irked me the most was that his conscience pricks him because he was a part of the NDA government and continued to do so even after Gujarat riots.Why is it that his conscience pricked him only when he finished his tenure with that government where he was a Minister of State for External Affairs,if my memory serves me right.Why did he not resign there and then or was the lure of the chair compensating for the cost of his conscience?Crocodile tears is what the Abdullahs are known for and Omar proved that he is the illustrous scion of the same family.He can but only lie.
Yet as he played his flute, the Editor in Chief of a newspaper was all praise for him,almost fell head in heels over Omar.The next day the Newspaper sang paeans to Omar,yes,on the front page.Another editor in chief wanted to give an Oscar to him,if there would have been an Oscar for the Speeches.Thankfully there isnt one yet.
The rat race did not stop here.Many other smaller rats too wrote and spoke highly of his speech.As always the Indian "Mainstream" Media fell for words as rats would for bread crumbs.......

Dead End

Dead End
The road to what was once my home in Kashmir....zuv chum bramaan ghare gachehae..