Omar Abdullah’s Call for Unity in Kashmir Echoes Nehru’s Vision, Counters Communal Rhetoric

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah delivered an extremely moving speech in the special session of the Assembly of the Union Territory on April 28 in the backdrop of the terror attack that killed 26 tourists including one Kashmiri. It captured the widespread public condemnation of the heinous assault and Abdullah’s brimming confidence that terrorism could be trounced with people’s power.

Those salutary utterances are evocative of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s firm assertions in the Constituent Assembly (Legislative) on March 5, 1948, that the Indian army action against Pakistani raiders, on the invitation of Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, could not have succeeded without the help and co-operation of the people of Kashmir, a majority of whom are Muslims.

Such exemplary parallels between Nehru’s celebration of Kashmiri people's support and Abdullah’s firm belief that terrorism could be put to an end by winning people’s solidarity deserve to be flagged in the context of the divisive Hindutva brigade, which is hell bent on polarising society and the nation by employing Hindu-Muslim binaries.

Therefore, it is of crucial significance to elaborate in detail what Nehru said in 1948 and how the essence of that is reflected in Abdullah’s speech 77 years later.

Abdullah’s remarks

Let us first deeply appreciate Abdullah’s remarks in the special session of J&K Assembly in the aftermath of the barbaric killing of 26 people from different states of India. “This was not just an attack on people from one state,” he observed and with deep anguish noted, “it was an attack on the very soul of India." Flagging the point that the victims hailed from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat and from Kerala to J&K, he stated that the gruesome attack they faced at the hands of terrorists constituted a national tragedy.

He acknowledged that while law and order as well as security were no longer controlled by the elected government, he, as chief minister and minister of tourism, felt morally accountable for the safe return of tourists after inviting them to J&K.

The terrorist attack on them, he felt, pointed to his failure and so he was running out of words to tender an apology to the bereaved families. Those words of Abdullah sprang from the depths of his heart and offered lessons for leaders like Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to own up their responsibilities and reach out to the victims asking for their forgiveness.

He also referred to shining examples of empathy and the human touch of common Kashmiris. He mentioned the ponywallah laying down his life to save tourists, a humble fruit seller, eking out a living by selling fruits, offering free meals to grief stricken tourists and auto or taxi drivers and boatmen extending their services to them free of cost.

More importantly Abdullah saw hope to defeat terrorism in the spontaneous and massive mobilisation of people cutting across faiths to utter condemnatory notes against terrorism. He said that across J&K, from Kathua to Kupwara, common citizens held aloft placards with “Not In My Name” written on them.

It was an unmistakable disapproval by people that they were rejecting terrorism in toto without any political party or entity prompting them to do so. He affirmed that “Terrorism will not end because of guns or security forces alone. It will end only when the people walk with us – and now it feels like they have started coming to us."

He referred to the observation of two-minute silence at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar following the Friday prayers and said that the gesture of mourning signalled a powerful message of solidarity and unity with victims of terrorism. According to him it represented the triumph of Kashmiriyat.

Abdullah’s remarks that it is not the guns and bullets alone but people’s support and strength which would eventually defeat terrorism makes him a leader with the attributes of a statesman.

Nehru’s remarks

After Indian army units were despatched to J&K to deal with the Pak raiders trying to snatch the erstwhile princely state, Nehru famously said that “We could not for an instant send our armies and we would not be there if we were not supported by very large sections of the population, which means the Muslims of Kashmir.” He proceeded to add, “We could not have gone there in spite of the invitation of the Maharaja of Kashmir if that invitation had not been backed by the representative of the people of Kashmir.” He had no hesitation in saying that “….in spite of our armies having functioned with great gallantry, even our Armies could not have succeeded except with the help and co-operation of the people of Kashmir”.

Against that backdrop of people’s support becoming the anchor for the security forces and army to safeguard J&K as an integral part of the Indian Union, Nehru discarded the distorted understanding that it essentially presented a communal problem.

Lessons that Kashmir offers

He decried the practice of looking at “….every problem or many problems in terms of communalism, of Hindu versus Muslims or Hindu and Sikh versus Muslim and so on and so forth”. He said that such an approach had resulted in tragic consequences. Nehru rejected the notion that Kashmir represented a case of communal conflict. He held it as a sign of hope because Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had participated on an equal level in its fight for freedom from autocratic rule. Nehru, therefore, urged people to derive lessons from Kashmir to get rid of communalism from the rest of India.

The manner in which Abdullah flagged the unprecedented unity of people of all faiths residing in J&K echoed what Nehru had said in 1948. It is tragic that the Bharatiya Janata Party, some Hindutva leaders and the Godi media are fomenting communal narratives to nullify the spirit of unity displayed by people of J&K.

It is all the more tragic that the lieutenant governor of J&K ordered the demolition of houses in the valley on the suspicion that they were allegedly involved in terror activities. Such an act in negation of the Supreme Court order concerning demolitions would seriously damage the spirit and unity of people against terrorism. Abdullah’s statesmanship in this context is a beacon of hope.

S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to former President KR Narayanan.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

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