|
Foreign Hand
Kalam Nishan Singh
| |
Immigrants are ubiquitous in the daily lives of modern cities.
They are intimately present in the physical space, but absent
from consciousness. India must learn to resist this dire desire
to identify ‘traitors’ within borders. The problem does not lie
with the poor Bangladeshi who washes Chunnu-Munnu’s bottom. It
lies elsewhere |
|
 During the days
of Sikh aspirational struggle in
Punjab, the
Indian official nation state had one stock answer aimed at negating
the voice of the muffled ethnic nationality: the ISI of Pakistan.
Just a few years earlier than that, the pretentious Left-leaning
socialite-clothed Indian political wolf pack saw sinister hand of
Amreeka everywhere. The party which has a 'Hand' as its symbol
these days was famous for coining the special Indian political
terminology of "Foreign Hand". "Videshi Takten" was hurled
about from every street corner stage on August 15 as well as right
from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
Rajiv Gandhi's
years saw the "nani yaad kara denge" terminology, a hallmark
of a novice pretending to be an expert.
Times may have
changed but the central thesis of the Indian establishment remains
the same. Every bomb blast is ISI, and if relations with
Pakistan are on
an upswing, and there is criticism from the nationalist Hindu right
wing Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to be met, then the Bangladeshi
migrants are always a handy punch bag.
On June 4, some
Sikh organisations had scheduled a gathering in
Amritsar to
discuss the larger issue of sacrilege of religious places. That the
organisers were able to bring in men like SAR Geelani and that
Hurriyat Conference leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani was also to
address (he was put under house arrest but nevertheless addressed
telephonically) said something about the increasing awareness that
the community needs to build its own pedagogy to counter the false
propaganda of Indian nation state.
But was the
Indian nation state sitting silently, like a good boy, legs crossed,
as a modicum of tempered behaviour in view of the larger focus on
human rights, right of expression and respect for ethnic minorities?
You could have put your money that it will ensure that the signals
going out from the conclave in
Amritsar get
adulterated with some sinister news.
So the
newspapers of June 5 in
India, whether
or not they carried the news despatch about the historic gathering
in Amritsar and the address by the Akal Takht Jathedar to the Sikh
nation, definitely carried the story that the police arrested three
people smuggling weapons in
Jammu
to kill Dera Sacha Sauda head.
Clearly, no
newspaper worth its salt in whole of
India will
forget to pick up the news about "Sikh terrorists" and bung it
alongside the story about a gathering recalling the Indian
government's attack on Darbar Sahib. Any sensitive nation state
would have prevented break out of a news story that could tarnish a
community's image on a very special day when it recalled the pain
and prejudice with which it was treated. The pain of Operation
Bluestar is still very raw in the minds of the Sikh community as
also all right- thinking people anywhere in the world, but does it
even bother one wee bit to the Indian establishment?
Did any single
leader of the Left front, the self-styled 'jhanda bardaar' of
righteous thinking and politics in
India,
issue a single statement on Operation Bluestar? Did the Left protest
at the atrocities and intellectual monstrosities scribbled by the
champion of murderous and fascist philosophy in India, L K Advani?
Did we see any senior Indian national leader visiting the Golden
Temple on the anniversary of Operation Bluestar? The Sikh community
this June entered the 25th year of the attack on its holiest shrine
but perhaps the year marked the lowest key on which the day was
marked.
The one singular
contribution was from an alert and alive at-your-service community
of intelligence from
India which
remembered to catch some "Sikh terrorists" in some part of India so
that the onslaught on the community continues.
"Foreign Hand",
"ISI", and now Bangladeshi migrants!
If bomb blasts
occur anywhere in
India now, the
police immediately start rounding up the usual suspects, which means
anyone named Abdul, Rahman, Rahim, Karim, Salim.
Bangladesh
has emerged as the new all-purpose bakra for Indian
intelligence agencies which cannot crack attacks on railway
stations, bazaars through bicycle bombs. So the blame is immediately
put on the ultra-efficient, tentacle-spreading, just-in-time, always
there spectre of 'terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh'.
UP court blasts
(November 2007), Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts (May 2007) and
Malegaon
(2006). Every bomb blast is similar to the one before. Remember the
old days of media hysteria about 'Pakistani' militants? All bullet
riddled bodies always carried the Pakistani passports in their
pockets! Now Pakistan has become more complex, with its role in the
US
axis of the willing. And since the public wants new, fresh faces,
the Indian intelligence agencies have had to find new borders, new
panic.
Besides, it
serves a larger purpose. Defame the Muslim, just as you defame a
Sikh.
And the BJP
continues to harp on the illegal Bangladeshi migrants turned
terrorists theme. When you can't solve something, cry HuJI!
And with no
regard to the fact that as
India develops
as a hyper-growth Asian tiger, with
Bangladesh
next door, immigration is inevitable. Until
Bangladesh
becomes a medium growth country, India will be as a 'Mexico' to
India's 'United States'. Bangladeshis, hungry for work, with
families to feed, will cross the borders.
Immigrants are
ubiquitous in the daily lives of modern cities. In a megapolis like
New York,
they are the ones who drive taxis, sell newspapers and coffee, clean
restaurant tables and work in kitchens. They are intimately present
in the physical space, but absent from consciousness.
India must learn
to resist this dire desire to identify 'traitors' within borders. We
understand such a desire has a long lineage.
India's
response to the Sikh aspirational struggle -- "it is Pakistan that
is behind all trouble" -- led New Delhi
nowhere. Its latest mantra of uttering Bangladeshi names after every
bomb blast will lead it to a rubble heap of history.
The problem does
not lie with the poor Bangladeshi who washes Chunnu-Munnu's
bottom. It lies elsewhere, in the inability of the nation-state to
listen to the deprived.
14
May,
2008
|
Read Also