After the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the sensible voice came from an extremely unlikely quarter, from the sad “born wife” Himanshi Narwal, whose iconic photo became the global image of the attack.
Everyone from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the lowest common ground in society is talking about “revenge”, young women, the most tragic young women are not using R-word. She said, “We don’t want people to follow Muslims and Kashmiris. We want peace, only peace. Of course, we want justice.
Those who aggrieved him should be punished. ”
After her statement was widely circulated, the response to it highlighted the main gap in India today. In recent decades, this division has gradually expanded and is now more obvious.
A totally different response to Ms. Narwal’s voice emphasizes the public “two Indians” or two “Indian types”. The first Indian sticks out with wet eyes and the bottom of the heart.
In her phone card, Lalita Ramdas shows this representative of India, which must first be introduced as an extraordinary member of civil society. She had another phone card, exhibited with the same pride: her father and husband were both chiefs of the Navy, the first Indian to hold the post and the thirteenth place. Her husband, who probably only needs to nudge, the late Captain L. Ramdas dedicated to the retired civil society movement, is Peacenik, Peacenik, who is a strong Democrat of the Aam Aadmi Party and an internal Lokpal until disillusionment makes him disappear. She published a widely dispersed letter, from the oldest naval wife to the youngest in that community. Ms Ramdas wrote that after watching Ms. Naval’s video and appreciating her “extraordinary power, patience and faith”, she felt “pride” which seemed “really extraordinary” because her courage “speaks out the hatred and purpose of Muslims and Kashmiris”.
Contrary to India that Ms. Ramdas and her words represent, are other words that form “other” India: harsh, rough, offensive, majority and downright vulgarity. These abuse posts began with one of Ms. Naval’s favorite punching bags with the troll army: Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, JNU, where she studied. The viciousness of her starts with her being there (as if so criminal), having her boyfriend (S) of the Muslim or Kashmiris and “let her husband kill” with his/her assistance, she is worldly and will now walk away with all the compensation and rewards, making her law firm named.
After the official narrative elucidated by Mr. Modi, which was then repeated by others, was the “perpetrators, supporters and planners” of the attacks that India would look for. However, the reaction to Ms. Narwar’s defense stems from the hope that such “revenge” was first seen as those whom she urged: Indian Muslims and Kashmiris.
Since Sangh Parivar started as a proxy for Pakistan’s “deep state” in place of Babri Masjid’s Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. This is done for election-generated Islamic sentiment. Since the 1990s, especially after Jamu and Kashmir terrorism began, every Kashmir Muslim also faces the appearance of “not your terrorist”. Since 2014, the campaign against Muslims has sometimes begun to be sponsored by the state, accompanied by a sharp decline in democratic responsibility in India. India’s status has been declining in the global global dataset about democracy and its functioning produced by V-DEM (Democratic Diversity) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, especially since it slipped into the “automatic approval of elections” category in 2017.
The Pahalgam attack is not the first massacre in J&K. Although this sounds harsh, even with the latest military conflict with Pakistan, it may not be the last one. But, over the years, people’s response to these has changed. The reason for the sharp rise in social aspirations is to “revenge” the perpetrators, their supporters and planners, and those considered “agents.”
The main reason for this is the growth of values of multiple emotions – support for Hindus, “Hindu” sentiment, consolidating muscle nationalism and strengthening Islamophobia or just a primitive hatred of past Muslims. In a fictional chart, the rise of support for Indian majority is plotted, whose value to the Y-axis continues to rise on the X-axis every year. The rise of these responses strengthened the BJP and Mr. Modi in the election, as the leader had no challenge to his authority as the benign protector of India, but only to his supporters.
The extent of the offensive against Ms. Naval, asserting that justice in her husband and another deceased was not about “the Muslims and Kashmiris who pursue “our ourselves”, underlined the dangers of self-inflicted by India. Mr. Modi and his government must communicate to their masculinity in all cases. However, after the Indian government launched a dynamics strike against Pakistan, it attempted to make a correction and placed a Muslim female officer as part of a three-member briefing team led by Foreign Minister Vikram Misri. Sofiya Qureshi’s choice as one of two women is an example of dual symbolism- A communication of women is now an integral part of the Indian armed forces, while two people conveyed the message that the Indian state considers Muslims to be part of the state and its defense. Mr. Modi’s first speech to the state after the suspension button was met by Sindor, also underscoring the need for the country facing challenges to unite within that.
Importantly, he called the terrorist strategy to identify the religious identity of men and then shoot them as “a disgusting attempt to break the harmony and unity of the state.” He also noted that his speech concluded that the country’s “greatest advantage is our unity with all kinds of terrorism.”
Public discord has become commonplace for a day, but rather a steady effort based on polarization based on religious identities. If the government and Mr. Modi personally hope to work hard to adjust the perspectives of hatred and prejudice, then there is a consistent effort than what has been seen in recent days.
The latest book by the author Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is Demolition, Verdict and Temple: The Authoritative Book of Ram Mandir Project. He is also the author of Narendra Modi: Men, The Times. He tweeted @nilanjanudwin
