When Indian Army officer Colonel Sofia Qureshi stood in the heart of Delhi, legitimising the Indian strikes on terrorist training cells in Pakistan as a valid response to the terror killings in Pahalgam, Fathima, living in a corner of India in Uri, was asking the Indian government and its people where she should go with her three children when her village was being pounded by the Pakistan Army’s bombs.
Sofia Qureshi is a symbol, and Fathima from Uri is a common reality with no symbolic meaning. She breaks the aesthetic of Sofia’s symbolic meaning. Her problem is that a citizen questioned her government and demanded its responsibility to the people. But she must know what we know–in this national moment, there is no room for her problems.
Sofia Qureshi was used to aestheticize, thus justifying Indian-Indian nationalism. Fathima and her three children don’t have military hats. Before a confident Sofia, she was a worried, unsafe woman. Sofia is extraordinary; Fathima is completely ordinary.
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Sofia Qureshi is currently the mouthpiece of Indian nationalism. So, welcome her. Over the past decade, the Indian state has been transformed into Hinduism, and he chose the face of Sofia – and Vyomika Singh.
Sofia Qureshi’s voice is very soothing to our excited nerves. But the question of a normal woman Fathima confuses us. She was asking why the government had not taken measures for her safety.
Basic responsibilities of the government
Fathima’s question reminds the government of its responsibility to perform its basic duties: to keep its people safe. This is uncomfortable for all of us. This is a time when you stand only with the government, don’t question it. Don’t we know the etiquette of wartime?
“In an Indian village near the border, 15 people were killed in Pakistan shelling.” This is just ordinary news. We don’t want to hear this now. This news won’t make headlines. No TV channel will scream justice for them. Their deaths are missing the theater killed by tourists in Baisalam on April 22. Those who died were Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus-children, men, women. Is the attack on them an attack on India?
If the government performs its basic duties, all of these people can be saved. That’s what Uri’s Fathima said, and so does Poonch’s Ranveer Kaur. They are asking: “We are only 7 kilometers within the border within the range of Pakistan shelling. Why are there no safety arrangements for us? Why are there no warnings? Why are there no evacuation drills? Why are there no bunkers built? Why are we not moving to safer places like Chamu?” Ranveer asked the same question as Fathima. Can the government expect Pakistan to destroy these areas?
These exercises were conducted in Delhi, a northern Indian city, not what should be done. Why does this simple logic escape the government?
“What if the government can only be obsessed with divisive society and focused on controlling Muslims, and the policy is developed solely to create chaos and undermine social security?”
Fathima and Ranveer asked: “Why doesn’t the government even do basic work?” You don’t have to be very clever to foresee that Pakistan can shell these areas. You only need basic management alerts. An effective government, everywhere is vigilant and cannot ignore these areas. When preparing for a strike on Pakistan, it should remember that shelling sites such as Uri and Poonch are the easiest for Pakistan. It could have anticipated and made security arrangements for the people of these areas. No, let people die.
What do we want – government or heroism? A heroic display always overwhelms us. Imagine the security guarding Pahargam: either the terrorists won’t enter, or they will face it. Then, it’s hard for them to identify Hindus and kill them. If simple, effective administrative measures were taken in Pahalgam, the need for Sindoor action would not arise.
But there will be no wonder. No Indian wounds. There is no reason for sindoor. The dramatic image of Sofia Qureshi who stands with Vyomika Singh is not needed.
But what about the concerns that the government can only be obsessed with separatist society and focus only on controlling Muslims, and the policy is formulated solely to create chaos and undermine social security?
Who is this?
Many of our friends cheered together on the image of Sofia and Viomica, claiming that it was their India. The image was produced by the government, which was recently called Muslim Puncture – Valas.
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But, they all knew deeply that this was not their India. Their India was the real India until the image of Sofia and Vyomika appeared as the Indian woman until the appearance – Himanshi Narwal, a verbal lynching, just timid for daring to call for peace, because she was talking about the revenge of the soldier husband in a terrorist attack that might not be violence against Muslims and kashmiriss and kashmiris. The same government that made Sofia’s face did not stand with the soldier’s wife, because despite her grief, she stood with Muslims and Kashmiris.
Hindus are not allowed to feel sympathy for Muslims. It is humane. They are only allowed to be Indian Wadi nationalists.
If this is a civilized government, it would explain what Himanshi Narwal said spontaneously. But it made its people insult and kill Muslims and Kashmiris. It remained silent in the attacks on Muslims and Kashmiris. Did these abuses and insults thrown on Muslims include Sofia and her family? Or have Indian Wadis missed them since the nationalists?
We appreciate Vikram Misri, who said: “The way the attacks were also driven by the targets that caused community disharmony in Jamu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. These designs were thwarted.”
We know that he is just a half truth. Because the Indian government itself has not tried to stop attacks on Kashmiris and Muslims. We see a Muslim expelling in Ahmedabad, watching them detained and marched, we hear a BJP leader sending death threats to Muslim MPs without any consequences, we have heard of attempts to introduce Kashmir students at Delhi University.
We know what Misri is saying is not the whole fact. The fact is that the purpose of the attack in Baisaran was to inspire community discord, which is also in line with the objectives of the Hindutva troops.
Imagine an impossible situation: Fathima and Ranveer held a press conference. Ask some common questions to the government. Are our TV cameras crowded in front of them? Will they frame them in different angles in the way Sofia and Vyomika compositions? We will see Fathima and Ranveer say, is this our India? We know the answer.
Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at the University of Delhi and writes literary and cultural criticism.
