Over 100,000 Canadian Sikhs took part in voting for the Khalistan Referendum in Canada on 19 September, which was organised by the pro-Khalistani group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and a week ago, a prominent Hindu temple was reportedly defaced by Canadian Khalistani extremists. As part of its separatist agenda, SFJ has been actively campaigning for many years to carve out a separate Khalistan.
A year ago similar referendum was organized in UK and in other countries including Italy and now it is reported that a similar referendum is now being planned in Punjab in 2023.
Needless to emphasize, the Indian Government sent out a strong message to these foreign governments and in turn, they expressed their inability to stop such activities, citing the democratic rights of their people. And as expected, Pakistan’s ISI performed its Dharma, utilizing these opportunities to send out a message that minorities are not safe in India.
It is pointless to blame the enemy/adversary because that’s his duty to avail such opportunities; we also do it.
Secondly, we must not even blame the pro Khalistani groups and other disgruntled groups from other communities because they have always existed in some form or the other in every part of the country and also in every society ; be it Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and so on. There was a group in Tamil Nadu which protested with Black Flags on the eve of independence and even in Nagaland, the Independence Day was not celebrated but gradually such groups were marginalized.
All such disgruntled elements gain strength only when the society and the nation fails to manage the alienation.
This demand for Khalistan is not new. It has existed, even before India got independence. The movement got a fresh life in the 1980s, and it could be brought under control only after a decade of bloodshed and violence.
Just prior to this referendum, there was another very interesting incident that took place ; Hindus and Muslims clashed on the streets of Leicester in England. One Professor remarked that ; “ It is sad that one of the cities where multiculturalism had taken root has had to face these scarring events."
These incidents of referendum and violence in foreign countries between Hindus and Muslims are an indication that the sectarian/ divisive politics of the Indian subcontinent can no longer be contained within the subcontinent and these divides are getting globalized due to alienation, disinformation, political partisanship and radicalization.
Kashmir sey Kanyakumari Bharat Ek hai.
I just came back from a tour of Ladakh a week ago, where I noticed that the Border Road Organization (BRO) has placed boards at every few kilometers, as if reminding us that “Sir Creek (in Gujarat) To Siachen Bharat is one”/ “Ladakh to Kanayakumari Bharat is one”. But when I looked at the people around me, the diversity was clearly visible. Almost 19500 languages or dialects are spoken by the Indians, food habits change across villages and even culturally, there are differences across the country, so is the BRO talking about the land or the people? ; Kashmir key logon se lekar Kanyakumari key logon tak sab ek hain.
Do we really understand the implications or the significance of this?
I have my doubts.
I have driven to almost all parts of the country right from Bhuj/Dholavira in Kutch, Lothal (the famous Indus Valley port in Gujarat) to Lachung, Lachen, in Sikkim, from Munnar (Kerala), Hampi(Vijaynagar Empire) and Chennai in South to Srinagar, Mcleodganj , Manali, Rohtang Pass, Leh and Nubra valley in the North. Travelled through almost entire Bihar and half of Jharkhand on bicycle and so have interacted with people of towns and villages from almost all parts of the country.
These travels and interactions besides being a great learning value made me realize that people of different regions have their own concerns, challenges, aspirations and a unique culture that they cherish and wish to uphold. However, many amongst us particularly from the Hindi belt, advertently or inadvertently, tend to be uncaring or dismissive towards people of other regions and do not empathise with them. They expect that others should be speaking their language(Hindi), must relish the same food, as they do, must have the same aspirations and allegiance as they have and consequently fail to grasp the essence of the message - Kashmir sey Kanyakumari Bharat ek hai.
For many of them, therefore this message perhaps means - Land and not the people.
Many of us believe that it is the land that is more important than the people living on that piece of land. As a result, instead of uniting people and wining thier hearts we try to focus on the Land. That is why perhaps the moment Article 370 was repealed, many on social media started rejoicing and circulating messages as if they have now defeated the Muslims of Kashmir and they will be able to subjugate them and grab their land.
As a matter of fact this message -Kashmir sey kanyakumari ek hai- implies that there is an invisible thread of Values that links us all, right from Leh to Kanyakumari despite our differences of colour, features, dress, food, beliefs and language.
However, in the last Eight years somewhere this thread that was linking people appears to have weakened and being systematically destroyed.
Is it just a figment of my imagination or is it really happening?
The best way to find this out is analyse the messages on Social media, because that truly tells us about the pulse of the society. Based on different sources, India has almost 500 million social network users who on an average spend 2 hours per day on social media. Thus, information or misinformation can reach millions within a span of few minutes if not seconds. For example, a group that supports Hindu Rashtra sends out a message on social media in support of its cause at 10 AM, within minutes it would reach its million supporters. But the reaction to this message will also not take much time and within minutes the Sikhs, Christians, Muslims and in the South where Hindu Rashtra means imposition of Brahminical order and Hindi will also be responding. This often leads to almost a war like situation on social media, involving use of abusive language, insulting and humiliating each other.
Only the naïve would believe that this war is going to remain only on social media; this surely has the potential to spillover on the streets.
Even Barak Obama had in his recent lecture during an event co-hosted by Stanford's Cyber Policy Center said social media is well designed to destroy democracies. Obama said, “You just have to flood a country’s public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plan enough conspiracy theorizing, that citizens no longer know what to believe.”
On the issue of Hindu Muslim riot that took place on the streets of Leicester, UK, the local Police also made similar complains that the disinformation spread through social media had fired up the mobs.
This is exactly what is happening in our country today.
Misinformation is travelling fast and reaching out to distant locations and communities, setting them on the path of violence and hatred. For instance, consider this news report in Indian express titled - WhatsApp message claims RSS declaring Hindu Rashtra, Panchkula police lodges FIR . This whats app message on the basis of which an FIR was filed, would have surely done lot of damage to country’s unity. However, in the absence of any deterrence, people are still spreading misinformation and hatred.
Another instance was, One individual, after a few Hindu seers met and drafted a constitution for Hindu Rashtra wrote on his twitter account - “ In Hindu Rashtra, Muslims and Christians will not have the right to vote. The capital will be Varanasi. Rules and Regulations will be according to Varna System; Laws based on the concept of Treta and Dwapara yuga. There will be a religious parliament. This news was later on published by Times of India titled - Won’t let minorities vote: ‘Hindu Rashtra statute draft’
In reply to this twitter, someone wrote - What if Sikhs also decide to frame their own constitution and demand for a separate nation.
When such messages are being circulated on social media by the majority community who call themselves as patriots, then they need to answer a few questions;
1. What do they expect from Sikhs, Muslims and other minorities who do not support the cause of Hindu Rashtra ?
2. Are they not advertently or inadvertently providing ammunition to the hardliners and disgruntled elements of other communities to justify their stance?
3. Aren’t these hardliners from each community complementing each other?
4. Will all this hatred help building a strong nation? or Will it not help our arch rivals to weaken us?
5. Will blaming Pakistan or enemies to exploit the disgruntled elements help building a strong India or resolve our problems?
Conclusion
The insanity and communal hatred has reached to such a level that we have forgotten that all this is not going to be restricted here and rather would spill over to foreign lands and streets, courtesy the social media, And the Nation will have to face severe consequences sooner or later.
The more one community shouts for Hindu Rashtra the more concerned other communities become and even those Sikhs who love India and have given their life and blood for this country will get apprehensive.
The best example , is of great poet Iqbal who wrote this poem that we still sing ; SAAREY JAHAN SEY ACCHA HINDUSTAN HUMARA , finally getting fed up of communalism started supporting the cause of seperate Muslim nation.
We may keep blaming eachother ; the AAP, the Sikhs, Owaisis, the Congress, the RSS, the BJP, the Akalis and so on as we did in 1947 but the people and the Nation would suffer.
As of now, It may not be hurting India geo–politically but international politics, like domestic politics has one unique feature - it is dynamic, and it is all about own interests. The US and West have hobnobbed with the dictators and despots in the past for their National interests (as we have supported Russia in this ongoing war in Ukraine) and dumped them later on.
So, the referendum held in Canada by Sikhs, might not prima facie appear to be something serious now but when it is viewed in its totality and seen in conjunction with what is happening within the country, my considered opinion is that the situation does not augur well for the country and we are gradually inching towards a greater mess.
It’s time we remember an important statement made in this regard, which in times to come many might say ; We had warned you.
National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah had said-
“Present day India is not the country that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) had acceded to, the decision would have been something else if people had known that the Muslim community's religious rights will not be protected in this country”.
