An “appalled” Karat expressed himself over what is happening in Kashmir in quite lucid terms. Not only concerned over the killings, Karat did some plain talk about the political situation in Kashmir, and solution to the Kashmir issue. One way of responding to CPI-M General Secretary’s remarks over Kashmir is that isn’t it too long a time that he took to come to Srinagar and talk himself out on this issue, and on the macabre conditions that have been imposed on Kashmiris. Barring that statement of Karat issued in his inaugural speech at the CPI-M four day central committee meeting in Andhra Pradesh we haven’t heard much from CPI-M over what is happening in Kashmir. But that is beside the point. Fact of the matter is that if Kashmir is talked about in terms not accentuating the entrenched stereotypes and not feeding the Centrist-Nationalist rhetoric, makes a pleasant interpose. In that AP meeting Karat was heard accepting that Kashmir was such a problem that had layers of complexities, and could not be thought of in routine terms and procedures. The inadequacy of “conventional means” to solve Kashmir problem was underlined in clear terms. And then it was not left for others to enunciate on that, but the accompanied clarification did it for the recipients: “The people of Kashmir have to be assured that their identity and special status is expressed through a new political framework in which maximum autonomy is the bedrock.”  What Karat expressed in Srinagar was almost the reiteration of the same. Of course this time around he seemed to be ‘mournful’ about the death of more than sixty people. He was categorical about expressing his “shock” over the use of force against protesters; that there is no “justification” for these deaths is a bold assertion. On the solution of the problem considering Kashmir as a “special case” and favouring “greater autonomy” forms the crux of Karat’s Kashmir talk. All this, even if granted that CPI-M is really serious about Kashmir, entails a question. Is CPI-M, as an all-India party, prepared to take the Kashmir question to the people of India. Normally it has been witnessed that with the wave of public protests ebbing out in Kashmir, all the ‘concerned-talk’, about Kashmir within the Indian political parties vanishes completely. Right from 1989, when things took a violent turn, the attention from parties and civil society in India have been contingent on the status of public mobilization and overall condition of Kashmir. This makes their Kashmir talk not just ineffective, but suspicious too. It may not be off the mark to mention that even the governments at different points have sounded ‘large-hearted’ under the impact of situation in Kashmir. Now take the Union Home Minister’s statement to the Parliament in which he accepted that Kashmir had acceded to India under special circumstances and deserved a special treatment. Many Prime Ministers have been more than magnanimous in their talk about Kashmir. But all this, till date, has not meant anything to Kashmir. The reason for that needs to be explored. One way of looking at it is to suspect the very intentions of Indian polity. Another is the absence of courage to talk to their own people in India that there have been bundles of lies crafted around Kashmir. Are people like Karat ready to muster the courage and tell their own people that New Delhi has been unjust in its dealing with Kashmir and it is a blot on Indian democracy. Further can these politicians with their parties launch an initiative on Kashmir to at least put pressure on New Delhi to stop the use of force on protesters, and also work on the proposals of political solution formulated on Kashmir over last almost a decade. 

Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST