Tattva

Part 1/2 of a first person account of the Epic 62-day struggle to get a land grant for the Lord Amar Nath (Shiva) Shrine located near Jammu city, India.

August 15th is India’s Independence Day. On this day, we see the Indian National Flag (also referred to as the Tricolor) proudly fluttering atop schools, hospitals, public buildings and other locations. People young and old proudly carry small Tricolor flags in their hands.

Unfortunately, on August 15, 2008, due to threats from jihadist terrorists, the Tricolor could be hoisted only for 2 hours in Jammu and Kashmir.  J&K is an integral part of India. This incident triggered several questions.  Are Indians truly free? What do the ominous burnings of the Tricolor mean? What can one make of shrill slogans like “India, your death knell is sounding” coming from mobs of miscreants?

Sheikh Abdullah, the chief minister of the state, declared: “We shall not allow even an inch of land to the Amar Nath Shrine Board!” This really upset the patriotic people throughout India. It was my great good fortune to be associated with such patriots, and that I could see first hand the people’s movement they led so successfully. However, it must be said that the circumstances that caused such a patriotic movement to be created were very sad indeed.

The state of Hindus in Kashmir is a major human rights issue. In September 2008, protestors demonstrate outside the United Nations Office in New York.

For several months, media accounts covered the situation in J&K, and they incessantly referred to the unjust re-possession of the land that had already been granted to the Amar Nath Shrine Board (ANSB). People of J&K, and many more throughout India, had begun to protest against this re-possession. Within a couple of days we finalized our decision to see this movement ourselves and we left Nagpur on August 29, 2008. Our train to Jammu left Delhi in the evening, and at 5:00 AM our cell phones began to ring off the hook.  The final agreement granting the land to ANSB had been signed! The people’s movement had won a tremendous victory against almost impossible odds and the 62-day long epic people’s struggle had reached a successful conclusion. In reality, this was just the first stage. Now we were doubly anxious to reach Jammu and see how the things were.

As soon as our train halted at the Jammu Tawi station, a Sevika* came forward saying “Namaste” along with a limping gentleman named Mr. Somaraj. Later, we found out that this incredibly brave man had defended his family in a terrorist, jihadist attack, and had been shot 23 times in the encounter. His subsequent medical treatment included eight major surgeries with many more to go! This brave family lives in a dormitory run by the Samiti*.

To receive us, Mr. Somraj and the Sevika came to the train station with a rickshaw operator whom they knew well. The entire train station was swarming with the police and the military personnel. As our train was approaching its destination, we had been informed that the entire city was under curfew orders since that morning. We quickly emerged from the train station and boarded the rickshaw. It was quiet everywhere, and peoples’ faces showed mixed emotions of fear, questions and premonition that peace might rupture at any moment.  Hushed up conversations could be heard.

Our rickshaw proceeded through the barricades and traffic stops as Mr. Somraj showed our train tickets which proved to the security personnel that we really were arriving passengers going to our lodgings. A grand rally of the people’s movement had been scheduled to commence today at 11:00 AM. However, it was quickly converted into a Victory Celebration as the news of the land grant to ANSB spread like wildfire. Nonetheless, the state administration decided against allowing this celebration to occur, and the reason was that a terrorist attack was imminent.

Around half a million patriotic people were expected to attend this rally, and naturally, this was anathema to the pseudo-secularist state administration. They issued a curfew order and blocked off all major streets of Jammu with barbed wire and other barricades. It was not easy to pass through the roadblocks/checkpoints. With a lot of persuasion by Mr. Somraj, we were finally let through many such obstacles, and we managed to reach DBN High School in about 45 minutes.

This school has a dormitory which is home to 23 girls, some orphaned by the Islamist terrorist attacks and to some other who are refugees from Ladakh (from the Chinese aggression). Their caretaker, a lady named Pankaj Didi, has received many life-threats from the Jihadists. But she is firm in her conviction: “We will carry on through the thickest of the strife; the Truth will ultimately triumph!”

Inside the dorm, we found out that the girls and their dance teacher were immensely happy at the victory of the people’s movement, and the teacher had already brought sweets for the kids. The kids had already shouted joyous slogans from the loud speaker they had in the school. Later on, Pankaj Didi gave us a hair-raising account of a failed jihadist plot designed to attack a rally organized by the people’s movement.  The jihadist plot to mow down the rally with machine guns and grenades was foiled by the swift, brave action of an alert Indian army soldier.

Four criminal jihadists forced a Rickshaw driver at gun point to take them to the rally location. However, the clever man escaped, by asking permission to go to the bathroom.  The criminals overpowered another Indian army soldier, “Vijay Kumar”, commandeered his vehicle, and ordered him at gunpoint to take them to the rally. The incredibly brave man understood their intent and drove the vehicle in the opposite direction. After about an hour, the vehicle ran out of gas and stalled. The criminals shot Vijay Kumar dead.

There were four houses where this shootout occurred. A retired Indian army officer out for his morning walk saw this outrage and fought the criminals with his bare hands. He too was shot dead. Now, people began to gather, and the terrorist felt that it was risky for them. So they took a boy hostage at gunpoint and forced him to let them into his nearby home. However, this had been seen by many bystanders, and the news reached the Indian army; the soldiers surrounded this house within minutes. Fearing his life, one criminal ran away and entered another home, and forced the housewife at gunpoint to go out and tell the Indian soldiers that there was no one inside the house.  This brave lady “Sunita” shouted that there was no one in the house, but with her hand gestures, she communicated to the soldiers that two criminals were hiding in the basement while one was on the upper floor. For this incredibly brave deed, Sunita paid the price - she was severely wounded in the gunfire from the criminals. However, she survived; she is recuperating in a hospital. Shielding her and other civilians with great tact and restraint, the Indian soldiers finally shot all the criminals dead, and thus their plot ended. The details came out from the captured documents. Sunita,  the brave lady, is but an ordinary housewife in her day-to-day life. She had lost a renter to the terrorists’ bullets a while ago. With such incredibly brave average citizenry, and the gallant Indian army, the terrorists, with all their evil schemes, obviously have no chance.

Even though there was curfew, the 11:00 AM victory rally participants were full of enthusiasm. At the assembly location, drums were beating, women were singing devotional songs, and the mood was immensely joyous at the victory of the people’s movement. Some nearby householders were bringing tea and snacks to the participants.

Around half a million people participate in the movement led by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) for the J&K Government to restore land to the ANSB.

Life in the city of Jammu had come to a standstill in the 62 day-long community protest; it was increasing in its intensity with each passing day. All schools and businesses had shut down and people had organized 60 langars* at various points throughout Jammu. All groceries were enthusiastically donated, and all cooking was joyously volunteered by the people of Jammu. In spite of Jihadist threats, and lathi charges and shootouts from the state administration personnel, wherein many lost their lives and many more were wounded, the rallies on August 18, 19 and 20, 2008, were attended by literally hundreds of thousands of people. 250,000 women, and 1, 35,000 children also participated in these mammoth meetings. These numbers, as reported by the media, are simply too large to fathom.

The martyrdom of the innocent civilians at the hands of the barbaric jihadists and the equally brutal administration minions did not faze the people’s movement one little bit; it proceeded on with redoubled vigor. All participants were single minded in their pursuit of the goal: land must be returned to ANSB! People young and old chanted” Bom Bom Bhole” (Hail to Lord Shiva) as they also chanted “Vande Mataram” (I salute my Mother India).

END OF PART 1

(Part 2 will be published in March 2010)

Bhagyashree Chanda Sathye is a full-time worker of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti based in Maharashtra, India.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 12:04 am and is filed under Current Events, Editorials/Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.