Political theatre in Kashmir over Martyrs’ Day
“In Kashmir, mainstream politicians have at all times deceived folks with faux slogans, promising them the moon and the celebrities. When the true take a look at comes, they fail. In public, they communicate towards the BJP-led authorities on the Centre, however in actuality, they’re hand-in-glove for their very own political dividends. They proved this post-August 2019,” added Zarief.
Critics additionally accused Abdullah of distorting historic info to push a story that fits his political agenda, by pointing to factual inaccuracies in Abdullah’s statements, together with the tweet through which he wrote: ‘What a disgrace that true heroes who fought towards British rule in all its kinds are at the moment projected as villains solely as a result of they have been Muslims…’.
Veteran journalist, writer and Kashmir Instances govt editor Anuradha Bhasin reposted Abdullah’s tweet on her Fb wall, with a pointy one-liner: ‘When you possibly can’t even say who you fought with out mincing phrases.’
Talking to the Nationwide Herald on situation of anonymity, a younger resident of Srinagar’s previous city mentioned, “Yearly, these leaders compete with each other, showcasing themselves as they pay homage and provide floral tributes to the martyrs of 1931.
But, nobody speaks concerning the descendants of those martyrs. All of them have been residents of Srinagar—considered one of them was my great-grandfather. Mockingly, the very leaders now racing to pay homage at Mazar-e-Shuhada have been the identical ones who, whereas in energy as chief ministers or ministers over the previous three many years, imposed strict restrictions in Srinagar’s previous metropolis yearly on Martyrs’ Day. All of them declare to honour the shuhadas (martyrs), however nobody has made an effort to permit the households of the martyrs to go to the graveyard on today.”
The actual fact is: folks need leaders and elected representatives to handle urgent points and grievances, quite than take pleasure in photograph ops and publicity stunts.
“If the ruling occasion fulfilled even a fraction of its guarantees,” says journalist and political analyst Tariq Ali Mir, “it wouldn’t want political gimmicks like this to remain related.” These guarantees included one lakh jobs within the first six months after coming to energy, the discharge of individuals jailed inside and outdoors J&Ok, 200 models of free electrical energy, reduction from energy and water crises, and 12 free LPG cylinders per yr to economically weaker sections.
“Sadly,” says Mir, “many of those guarantees have been by no means meant to be stored—they have been simply theatrics for votes.”
