The Kashmir Files, which started its journey as “Right to Justice” and first screened in the United States made waves and left an indelible impression on the audience. Slated for an official release initially on the Republic Day, people in India too eagerly awaited the movie that has shone light on the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus. Clearing the legal tangles, the movie hit the screens in India on March 11th.
For decades,
the ecosystem nonchalantly glossed over the gruesome ethnocide of Kashmiri
Hindus as “exodus”. The targeted attacks on Hindus in the Valley for the past
700 years culminated in a pogrom on Jan 19th, 1990 which forced over
five lakh Kashmiri Hindus to leave the valley. Overnight, the land of Sage Kashyapa
was stripped bare of the legit inheritors and upholders of Indic civilisation. But
a vast majority of the Indians remained blissfully unaware of this tragic
demographic displacement which could extirpate the last surviving remnants of
Indic civilisation in the valley, which has been knowledge fount of the Indian
subcontinent. Unfortunately, barring muted discussions among the intellectual
circles and well-read, common man was largely oblivious to the purge of
Kashmiri Hindus and the mission-mode attacks on them.
Through an
unvarnished presentation of the facts based on the true stories, the Kashmir
Files, has taken the Indian audience by a storm. Majority of them who are
ignorant of the ordeal of the Kashmiri Hindus are left teary eyed and shocked
to learn about their sordid saga. The movie which laid threadbare all the
events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Hindus shook the collective
conscious of the Indians. Startled by the disconnect between the popular
narrative and the ground reality people are genuinely outraged by the apathy of
the system, failure of the successive governments.
People are
perplexed by conspiracy of silence. The feeling of having failed the micro
minority community of Kashmiri pandits has compounded the anguish of the common
man. The movie has come as a jolt to the slumbering Hindus who naively consumed
the whitewashed history systematically fed through the text books. The complete
absence of even a mention of this carnage has created a definite churn and
ignited a distrust towards the dominant narrative. This aversion can
potentially give a major fillip to the popular demand of revising the text
books and Indian academic works that have buried the real Indian history.
Since 8th
century BCE Hindus have been at the receiving end of the foreign invaders who
besides ravaging and plundering the country have attempted to decimate their
sense of identity. History written by victors for over the centuries never
empathised with the kind of bloodshed and butchery endured by the Hindus in the
civilisational war. Their resistance and steely courage have always remained an
obscure historical footnote.
In 1947,
though India attained political independence, Hindus were constitutionally
discriminated. Post-independence the ecosystem that dominated the discourse
always portrayed Hindus as a majoritarian aggressor and flagrantly whitewashed
the crimes against them. In cahoots with the political dispensation which
undermined the Hindu interests to appease their vote bank, the ecosystem
besides distorting the history peddled a narrative of minority victimhood.
The lackadaisical
approach of government towards Hindus has triggered a sudden rise in anti-India
and anti-Hindu designs in the valley. The Kashmiri Hindus who have been victims
of religious fanaticism since 11th century and left the valley in
six major waves were forced to leave for the seventh time at gun point in an
independent country, is a matter of a national shame. This abject failure of the
country to provide security is inexcusable.
For years,
the ecosystem, which sided with the fanatics who were hailed as “Gandhi with
Guns” has successfully misled the common man with their fabricated narratives.
Reflecting truth and reality, the Kashmir Files (TKF) movie has exposed the
genocide which was expertly touted as “exodus” by the ecosystem. Affecting the coverup of the grotesque crimes
against the Hindus by the jihadi tyranny hailed as “azadi”, the movie has
permanently blown away the lid of the nefarious anti-India and anti-Hindu
agenda at work.
Mainstreaming
the Hindu atrocities, the movie besides puncturing the narrative of the
ecosystem has rightly exposed the bigotry of the judicial system, that refused
to offer legal recourse to the affected community. TKF has drawn attention to
exiled Kashmiri Hindus who continue to live as internal refugees in their own
country.
With a
non-linear narration and a string of parallelly running brainstorming session
by a professor who exuberantly blurts out- “the government is theirs but the
system is ours” the film rightly encapsulated the motives of the cabal that diabolically
refutes the genocide. Expertly
underscoring the war of narratives at play, the movie offers a complete
perspective of the interplay of various factors at work in burying the
Holocaust. Devoid of loaded dialogues but peppered with anecdotal wise words
like- “impossible takes little longer time” and “hope is what they want to
kill”, the director has smartly underscored the uncanny resilience of the
Kashmiri Hindus.
Without
suggesting any way forward, the director left it to the discretion of the
audience to mull over a valid recourse. Effectively using the visual media to etch
the genocide in the psyche, the film has sparked a new awakening. This new
illumine among the youngsters springs a fresh hope of people collectively
demanding the government for a legal recourse to the Kashmiri Hindus who
continue to live in exile.
Intriguingly
for all the fascist diatribes against the current dispensation of curbing the
freedom of expression, the coverup of genocide saw the light of the day under
this regime. Abrogating article 370, the government has shown its commitment of
integrating J&K with the country. J&K is incomplete without Kashmiri
Hindus who are integral to restoring the civilisational identity of the valley.
Rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Hindus back in the valley is indispensable to reposition
Kashmir as the fount of Indian civilisation.
It is time
the government of day display a courage of conviction and institute a truth and
reconciliation committee to probe and document the ethnic cleansing and ensure
swift justice to prevent future recurrence.
Unlike the
famed son of the school master who took to arms for alleged high-handedness of
the Indian Army, despite the homicide, invoking Devi Sharada Kashmiri Hindus,
believed in the power of pen and never turned hostile towards the state and
slowly built their lives. The unmissable striking contrast shown in the movie reflective
of the values of the land has spurred the conscious of Indians who are now
yearning for an honourable redressal for Kashmiri Hindus.
The Kashmir
Files has opened a new chapter in India’s battle of narratives which is thus
far dominated by a privileged section of the society. By bringing to fore the trials,
tribulations and despicable bigotry, the movie has illumined a spark and
generated a wider consciousness towards the ongoing civilisation war.
Successive
Indian governments and the ecosystem with vested interests never bothered to promote
Indic civilisation and shattered hopes of institutionalised revival. Featuring
the indifference and apathy of the system, TKF generated an awareness that can
effectively spark a new renaissance triggering a bottom up approach of people
propelling a change.
The Kashmir
Files has stirred a pot rekindling the hope of birthing a new generation of
thought leaders. Overcoming several hurdles, push and pull of the woke
ecosystem, director Vivek Agnihotri has displayed tremendous courage in exposing
the gruesome facet of atrocities suffered by the indigenous people of the land.
While the
government of India is yet to order an investigation on massacre of Kashmiri
Hindus for the first ever gripping visual presentation of collective grief has
moved the World. For the first time in 32 years, US state of Rhode Island has
acknowledged the Kashmir genocide. Certainly, the movie created a ripple, shook
the society and heralded a narrative.
Here is a
heartfelt thanks to the entire unit and cast of the TKF for their invaluable
contribution to the Hindu society and the country at large.
@ Copyrights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment