Shikara is an attempt to whitewash the crimes of the terrorists and rapacious Muslims of Kashmir, who rode piggyback on the crimes of our neighbouring terrorist country and tried every trick in the book to rid the land of Kashmir of the Hindu populace
India that is Bharat, has never faced Genocide. Nope. Never. Our people died in hordes naturally. They just dropped dead like flies on their own, over the centuries of their existence. They never faced Genocide. Only the Jews faced Genocides. Maybe the aborigines of Australia, USA and Africa did meet with some disturbing facet of genocide, but Indians and especially Hindus, never did. No.
A film “Shikara” was released today. On the original poster which was released a few days ago, the tagline of the film was “The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits”. But by the time the film was actually released, it had changed to “A Timeless Love Story in the Worst of Times”. The film blames the Politicians and believe it or not, the USA, for the happenings of 1990—the exodus of the Kashmiri Hindus.
This is simply whitewashing of the crimes of the militant and rapacious Muslims of Kashmir, who rode piggyback on the crimes of our neighbouring terrorist country and tried every trick in the book to rid the land of Kashmir of the Hindu populace. For them it was simply Ghazwa-e-Hind. For us, it was one of the countless attempts to wipe out our Identity. And as is our wont, we will protest and fight tooth and nail to see to it that the Genocide perpetrated on Kashmiri Hindus will not be wiped off from our collective memories.
Bharat and her indigenous population has faced several Genocides over the ages—the great Famine of Bengal, where people were starved and killed by the Britishers who diverted foodgrains grown in India to the British shores, was indeed a Genocide. The cruel and bloodthirsty attacks of Taimur Lang were Genocide. The brutal killings of the brave Kodavas (people of Coorg), the Brahmins of Melkote, the Hindus of North Kerala, by the Islamic Tipu Sultan, definitely can be termed a Genocide. The Inquisitions in Goa and Coastal Karnataka by the Portuguese cannot be termed anything but a Genocide. The organised massacre by the Leftists Government of West Bengal, of the poorest of Hindus who had fled East Bengal and settled in West Bengal after the formation of Bangladesh, in Marichjhappi, is fit to be called a Genocide. And the biggest of them al—the horrors of Partition when Hindus and Sikhs were raped, tortured and killed ruthlessly—should that not be called a Genocide? BUT AMAZINGLY, none of these massacres is termed a Genocide by any Institution anywhere in the World! Why? This is enough to cause some serious heartburn to people who have tried every trick in the book to trample our civilisation and memories of our past. The existence of the HINDU as a proud Hindu is like a straw in the eye of every cult that believes in Conversion. It is a cause of major irritation.
Trust me when I say that it is for every single Hindu to feel proud, stand tall and reclaim every bit of our past with awareness and newfound zeal to protect it. We owe it to our ancestors who did not cow down to those who invaded our land, our minds, our learning process, our women, our heritage structures and our knowledge systems. We are still that Dharma which understands Acceptance and Love which is devoid of Conversions. We are the ONLY ones.
(The writer is a Mumbai-based columnist)
