He looked just like another Indian. Barely a second look material. He mingled and was nothing conspicuous. His father now paralyzed, had only an acre of land, which is squeezed to pay for his studies as his brother prepares for Indian civil service exams. An avowed atheist and bohemian by nature he never had any association with religious institutions except for his name. This “Pooja Pat” and mosque business was not up his alley. Bihat village in Bihar is known for its communist inclinations. Communist Party of India won most of the elections. He always stood for secularism, atheism and equality. His speeches were straight out from Das Kapital. There was a gift that made him special. It was his oratory. After his MA in sociology, he topped the entrance exams in JNU Delhi and started his Ph.D. in African Studies. It is at JNU that his fiery speeches got him first the presidency of JNU student’s union and then the trouble that got him the fame.
In February 2016, he was arrested and charged with sedition after denouncing Kashmir’s occupation by brutal and savage Indian armed forces. He was accused of speaking against Hindutva, the hinduness of India, which ironically has taken violent expression in a country that portrays itself to be world’s largest secular democracy. Among the believers of this ‘India for Hindus’ rhetoric is BJP, the ruling party of India and it’s religious wing RSS. No wonder Prime Minister Modi, who currently holds the office, was rewarded for butchering and burning alive Muslims in Gujrat. Kanhaiya Kumar has almost no love for Islamic ideologies or theocracy however you put it. It was a principled, conscientious and altruistic expression in support of a disputed area whose majority is Muslim and wants to live with Pakistan. Having been sold for 7 rupees a citizen by British to Dogra dynasty, it was only the beginning of ethnic cleansing. Crimes ranged from extra-judicial killings to rapes, disappearances, and torture. Horrifying fact is that no army personnel in the valley has ever been tried for these heinous crimes according to 2015 report by Amnesty International.
A huge crowd turned up in support of this tyranny and abuse of the law to protect Kanhaiya Kumar. Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, and Prof Nivedita Menon came out to defend this freedom of speech. The government had no way to suppress the voices like they do in Kashmir and ended up releasing the firebrand student. He came back and roared at JNU against this detention and India’s growing intolerance towards it minorities. One can argue this ‘reaction’ was reserved for Muslims because of the troubled history between Hindu residents and foreign Muslim invaders. How does one explain the 1985 massacre at Golden Temple in Amritsar and Odisha genocide of Christians then let alone crackdowns on Tamils, Dalits, and Communists?
Unfair settlement of borders is something British were really good at. Palestinian debacle is very identical to Kashmiri one where either these Goras has no idea about geographical realities of the region, or their nebulous nature took over. The numbers are however miraculous. An untrained army of guerrilla warriors has become a nightmare for the Indian army, however. For a handful of people, more than half a million army is stationed making it one of the most militarized regions on earth. Closely attached is another front which is the highest battlefield on earth, Siachen. While Indian politicians are making India look like a fool on TV Kashmiri’s have shown the world how the fight for independence is fought. A treacherous Pakistani government and traitors from the inside have not stopped the Kashmiri nation from offering their sons and brethren for this long freedom struggle. The Recent uprising in Kashmir after the brutal killing of Burhanuddin Wani, a 21 warrior who was more revered than Guevara, streets have flooded with young protesters. Media is swooning towards the valley to cover the unrest. Among cries within intellectuals of India, people have rallied again.
Allah stands with the righteous, and this is what Prophet ﷺprayed before the final battle on the Day of Badr when the fate of Islam was sealed:“O Allah, accomplish for me what Thou hast promised me. O Allah, bring about what Thou has promised to me. O Allah, if this small band of Muslims is destroyed, Thou wilt not be worshiped on this earth”.
What remains for us is to mourn over our feeble voices and low character. While communists, atheists, and seculars speak for the rights of oppressed people in Kashmir, our Prime Minister conducts business with the butcher of Gujrat. His son wrote letters to the Indian government to save his corrupt father from Army’s wrath. History can be a painful subject. A country that gave an unknown metal workshop owner wealth of the worlds and his son, the highest seat in the country now suffers from their greed and plunder beyond repair. What rulers don’t realize is that every freedom fighter killed begets a dozen others. Pride has a fall, and there is no end to this pit.
