When Shuchi Singh Kalra tweeted about ‘Kashmiriyat’ and what she expected from the Home Minister of India after the dastardly terrorist attack on Amarnath Yatris, she spoke on behalf of many of us. The ‘Breaking News’ telling us of how unarmed Yatris were targeted that night was shocking, it made us sad, angry and indignant with the kind of rage that made Shuchi use an expletive.
Seven people, whose devotion made them come all the way from Gujarat to undertake an arduous trek in hostile conditions, were shot dead by Jihadis in a Valley known for its holy Amarnath Cave where Lord Shiva has been giving ‘darshan’ to countless devotees for centuries! And, rather than assuaging the feelings of Indians shocked by this carnage, our esteemed Home Minister decided to wax eloquent over ‘Kashmiriyat’. Now you may ask what is it about this ‘Kashmiriyat’ that enraged a normally controlled lady like Shuchi Kalra to tweet so emotionally and prompted a veteran politician like Shri Rajnath Singh to engage with her.
If you were to ask me, as a Kashmiri I would use much stronger words than Shuchi did, to dismiss this mythical ‘Kashmiriyat‘ that crops up at opportune moments to sugarcoat and whitewash unpleasant truths connected with Kashmir. By resorting to this crutch, our Home Minister chose to forget what his Party stands for. Did he, for a minute consider how his countrymen would react when instead of promising to wipe out the Killers of innocent Yatris, he chose to prevaricate by grandstanding about ‘Kashmiriyat’? And as if to rub salt into those wounds, he actually decided to act as a ‘Defence Lawyer’ for those Kashmiris whom he thought Ms Kalra and others who demanded action, had slighted. What on earth made him think that a tweet demanding retribution for the Amarnath Killings, equated all Kashmiris with terrorists? The Yatris were targeted by Terrorists and ‘culling’ them is in no way a reflection on the average Kashmiri living in or outside the Valley.
What that unnecessary ‘defence’ by the minister did was to provide an opportunity to vicious Trolls who took it as a signal to hound a lady off Twitter with scant regard for her ‘Freedom of Expression’! Not only was Ms Kalra endlessly harassed by people who claim to be of a ‘liberal’ bent of mind, her employer was badgered to terminate her services and her personal details publicised making her a target for hate-mail.
Why exactly did the HM choose to react to this particular tweet on a day when Twitter was buzzing with countless remarks mentioning the Home Minister/Kashmir/Action against the killers? Was it an impetuous, off the cuff response of a man irritated by the tweets asking him to go beyond ‘Kadi Ninda’? Or was it a shrewd, deliberate change of stance signalling a switch in GOI’s hitherto tough ‘Kashmir Policy’? Was it an effort to appease the miffed Separatists? For, to talk of a ‘Kashmiriyat’ that allowed lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits to be driven out, thus wiping out the most important aspect of Kashmiri Culture, on a day when Islamic Terrorists sullied an age-old Kashmiri tradition, was uncalled for. As for the ‘condemnation’ by the Valley Kashmiris, that the tweet sought to ‘celebrate’, the less said the better! When people condemn killings by terrorists one day and choose to host massive funerals for those terrorists two days later, their words of commiseration ring hollow.
If getting praised by the likes of Rana Ayyub, Nidhi Razdan, Omar Abdullah etc. can be counted as an ‘achievement’, that response to Shuchi Kalra by Mr. Rajnath Singh certainly got that. How long this ‘admiration’ lasts is another question.
Bravo @rajnathsingh https://t.co/eUEMfctKb8
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 11, 2017
Wow,this is amazing! Respect for you @rajnathsingh sir, not just for how you've put down the vicious trolls but your stand on Kashmiris https://t.co/kiYWer6Teo
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) July 11, 2017
Rajnath Singh is my hero for the day. This is so rare in politics of our time
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) July 11, 2017
For once, a member of the Modi cabinet speaks responsibly. Thank you @rajnathsingh ji. Now please also investigate the security lapse. pic.twitter.com/KPm5v6FUgX
— Dipankar (@Dipankar_cpiml) July 11, 2017
Rajnath Singh (@HMOIndia) deserves great respect for saying what needed saying while others egged on the mob https://t.co/LXwYaNw0bK
— Praveen Swami (@praveenswami) July 11, 2017
Rajnath Singh rebuts online troll, says all Kashmiris not terrorists – The Indian Express https://t.co/RreauOzdsb
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) July 12, 2017
'All Kashmiris are not terrorists': Rajnath Singh shuts down troll https://t.co/V3yMJWBZJg pic.twitter.com/5NEJfMysUg
— shahid siddiqui (@shahid_siddiqui) July 11, 2017
In the meantime, certain newspapers and news portals are having a field day denouncing and defaming an ordinary Indian lady who made the mistake of exercising the much-vaunted ‘Freedom of Expression’ on Twitter.
Well done @sanjayuvacha and @saikatd for exposing her. Think she's forced to delete account under direction from her employer. https://t.co/aqepHtiOtY
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) July 11, 2017
This particular incident certainly speaks volumes for how and what our journalists regard as ‘newsworthy’ and what kind of slant they choose to give to what could have been mere ‘social media interaction’ between an agitated Indian citizen and her country’s Home Minister!
