Pulwama to Pahalgam | Radhakanta Barik

The way people from Pahalgam faced the threats from terrorists and saved the tourists by taking them to their homes and taking them to hospitals needs a new dimension in Indian politics. Hindutva politics talks of revenge which is against the spirit of constitutional democracy. There should be struggle for justice not bulldozer justice as the administration has demolished the houses of some people in Pahalgam. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah need to talk of justice rather than revenge. Justice does not require war but negotiation with the various actors in international politics Let justice prevail rather than revenge. Public wants justice not Modi’s Hindutva poltiics. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat talks of unity of India which does not exist because of its divisive policy based on religion and language and ethnic groups and the caste hierarchy. All these create disunity and disunity have been strengthened with policies pursued by Modi. Economic inequality is at highest between ten percentages of top elite and vast masses. Income of ninety percentages of people has declined under Modi and it is already an explosive situation.

Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister working as an agent of some top industrialists. Tycoons Adani and Ambani feel threatened with the decline of his image. They were waiting for a refurbishing of his image. They were waiting for an incident like Pahalgam. The use xenophobic language at a time of terrorist attacks has not appealed to the crowd in Madhubani. This small crowd belonged to the core of BJP/Hindutva supporters. All most all were wearing saffron dress and no ordinary folk joined the meeting. Furthermore there were no spontaneous response to use anti-Pakistan verbiage like "choor choor ho jayega’ (will be reduced to dust) targeting Pakistan. He spoke in English for last three minutes which did not charm the crowd of Bihar. English is not taught in their schools but PM was speaking English. He knows his limitations as he cannot create war phobia as the economy is down and Trump is not showing his interest. As his close friend Modi claimed he is not ready to make reckless statements at a public meeting. Economics and politics of war may be of like Silence when the previous regime took interest in destroying the Tamil elam but there was a massive spontaneous protest against the regime. This may not add to the image of Modi.

Attari border closure will hit the Indian economy to the tune of Rs 3800 crores. Indo-Pak trade may affect the economy in thousands of crores which would add to unemployment and loss to GDP. False nationalism would affect people of India. With Trump’s tarriff politics India is already a great loser. Negotiation is the answer not Modi’s xenophobic statements. Modi is speaking like the RSS pracharak (propagandist) not as the Prime Minister of the Indian Republic. He spoke regarding taking steps to destroy the soil on which Pakistan is standing. This is absolutely against the international law. Pakistan is a sovereign country and India needs to respect it and India needs to negotiate with Pakistan on the terrorism if any in Kashmir. It can be discussed by sitting around the table not shouting at the top of voice. Trump has offered to sell outdated war planes like F 16’s at a high cost to India when its people do not have basic income to survive. At least one hundred crores have income stagnant for last ten years. Speaking on the soil of Bihar to collect some votes which people may not cast votes in favour of the BJP. In 2024 it is accepted that the BJP /NDA combine have allegedly rigged the election to win the parliament and state assemblies like Maharashtra and Haryana. People of India specifically in North India are suffering from hunger and poverty rather than war phobia. The story floated by Shah and Modi on the incidents related to Pahalgam has many contradictions. Those who lost their near and dear ones have raised uncomfortable issues. One woman spoke out loudly asking ’Whose life is more important that of the tourists or of Home Minister Shah’. As there was a fleet of cars for protecting the Home Minister but no security for the tourists. No soldiers or police men or health services existed for them. When the attack came nobody was present there. Only Kashmir workers like tourist guides, pony riders,Taxi drivers, shop keepers protected and helped the victims and their families. The very next day next day Narendra Modi went on an election campaign to Bihar and raised the Pahalgam terror attack issue but the people did not receive it well. The way Modi and Nitish Kumar giggled in the election meeting adds weight to the story that "now nobody can stop the NDA from winning the election"

This worked in the case of Phulwama but people are aware of all these developments and they question the intentions of these leaders. Bihar stands for Buddha not for these cowards who do not stand with the people lost their dear ones to the gun trotters. The ’autowala’ on my journey to Teenmurti library spoke sense . . . that so many Prime Ministers have come and gone but nobody stuck to power like power hungry Modi. He wants power as Charlie Chaplin the famous artist said that —“You need power only when you want to do something harmful, otherwise love is enough to get by in life”. He has repeatedly been involved in hate speech but without any legal action against him by the Election Commission or the Supreme Court. Common people are disrespected by these public institutions.

The public image of Modi is declining according to studies by the CSDS. He is losing support among his core support base that is middle class. His own organisation like RSS has apparently given him deadline. After messing up the ’Waqf’ act that has alienated the partners like Nitish and Naidu. People have decided to go for the opposition. Modi created Phulwama as his Governor Satypal Mallick says. He is now behind the attack on innocent tourists in Pahalgam.

It is high time that people in India speak out their opinion without being bothered of getting branded as nationalist or not. The public needs to know the truth, for which there needs to have proper investigation into the Pahalgam incident and one needs o have a dialogue with Pakistan taking the spirit of Shimla agreement where both countries sat together to settle the matter. Annulling of a long running international treaty by Modi government does not offer hope on future cooperation. Cancellation of bilateral discussions between Pakistan and India over water sharing need serious reflection. India and Pakistan need to usher new era of friendship to tackle the terrorism. Questions have been raised recently as to who smuggled the huge quantity of Opium through the Adani port in Kutch area of Gujarat — and allegations made that the money from this was meant to finance ’Laskar e Taiba’ terror operations. The public needs answers over all that may have been hushed up from Pulwama to Pahalgam.