Indian Press On Kashmiri Muslims, Military Crisis In Kashmir And Narco-Terror in Pakistan: New Age Islam's Selection, 17 November 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Desk
17 November
2020
• ‘Muslims Are In A State Where Being Quiet
Makes Their Survival Hard And Speaking Up Makes Them Anti-National’
By Naseer Ganai
• Fresh Military Crisis In Kashmir Can Help
Pakistan Test Biden’s South Asia Policies
By C. Raja Mohan
• Pakistan: Narco-Terror
By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
• ‘Everything Is Not Based On Faith But Also On
Analysis And Reason. We Have To Listen To Scientists’
By Narayani Ganesh
• For Joe Biden, From The Jawaharlal Nehru Of
1945
By Gopalkrishna Gandhi
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‘Muslims Are In A State Where Being Quiet Makes
Their Survival Hard And Speaking Up Makes Them Anti-National’
By Naseer Ganai
14 November
2020
Shubham
Yadav, 21, is the first non-Muslim to top the all-India entrance exam for a
Master’s course in Islamic Studies at Central University of Kashmir. His
topping Islamic studies is making a lot of buzz in the Valley. In an interview
with Outlook’s Naseer Ganai, he said
Kashmir, as one the Muslim-majority areas in India, makes it a far better place
to study Islamic studies as it would teach a lot about the real fraternity of
Islam and “break stereotypes.”
Q) Why of all the universities you chose
Central University Kashmir?
I did not
choose Central University of Kashmir, there are a number of Central
Universities which are located in different states and their admission is
conducted through a single admission test named CUCET, in this particular test
I applied for LLB, political science and Islamic Studies. Furthermore, out of
these Central Universities, only Kashmir has Islamic Studies. Therefore, I was
allocated that particular university.
Q) What explains your interest in Islamic
studies?
One of my
very close friends has been a student of Global Islamic Politics through which
I found interest in this subject. Moreover, in these polarised times, I feel
that bridging the link between Hindus and Muslims would be someone who would
cross the limits set by the orthodox religious practices and study both the
religions thoroughly to lead to cohesion. And also I am an aspirant for Civil
Services in which Islamic Studies is a very scoring optional subject.
Q) What is your opinion about the state of Muslims
in India and the world?
I would
like to talk more about the state of Muslims in India because it is what
motivated me to study Islamic Studies. Due to excessive political weight at the
right wing side there is a lot of polarization and resultant Islamophobia which
concerns me the most. The two communities which used to be part of a common
population have had serious bifurcations to the extent that it is particularly
hard for a Muslim to survive with dignity in this country. Policies like CAA
and Article 370s abrogation are targeting the secular fabric of India directly
and Muslims are in a state where being quiet makes their survival hard and
speaking up makes them anti-national. NATIONALISM IS ON SALE. And all those who
have got hate in them can buy it out easily. We are in a serious handicapped
state of governance.
Q) What is your perspective on the ongoing
situation in Kashmir and whether you have been reading about Kashmir?
Kashmir is
what makes me even more concerned. The Centre is challenging the democratic
instincts of Kashmiris daily and being an outsider I can just imagine their
plight, nothing more. Legislations like the abrogation of Article 370 have made
it so hard for us to trust the Centre's intention. Plus these recent land
reforms are making matters worse. There is nothing good making Kashmiris
relieved I guess.
Q) Kashmir has been troubled for so many
years. Didn't this deter you from applying to a university based in Kashmir?
Kashmir is
a part of India so it didn’t deter me from applying to any university of India,
I love Kashmir and I stand in solidarity with Kashmir’s movement to secure
basic living rights and security. You cannot strip off someone's basic rights
and ask them to be loyal, no one would be loyal. And Kashmir, being one of the
Muslim-majority areas in India, would the best place to teach me a lot about
the real fraternity of Islam and break stereotypes.
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-muslims-are-in-a-state-where-being-quiet-makes-their-survival-hard-and-speaking-up-makes-them-anti-national/364296
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Fresh Military Crisis In Kashmir Can Help
Pakistan Test Biden’s South Asia Policies
By C. Raja Mohan
November
17, 2020
As
President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take charge of America on January 20,
Pakistan hopes to reset bilateral relations with the US and draw Washington
into the Kashmir dispute with India. Mobilising America on Kashmir has always
been a major preoccupation for Pakistan. It has become an obsession after India
altered the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir last year.
Pakistan’s
Kashmir strategy over the last three decades and more is a familiar one. It is
about triggering violence in Kashmir and intensifying the military
confrontation at the Line of Control. It then appeals to Washington to defuse
the crisis that could escalate to the nuclear level and compel India to talk
Kashmir with Pakistan. This script has played out frequently since the late
1980s and the US has inevitably stepped in. The degree of American intervention
has, however, varied from crisis to crisis.
Meanwhile,
India has learnt to adapt. In the past, India was hesitant to escalate
hostilities because of the nuclear factor and the fear of third-party mediation
in Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, is unafraid to escalate.
Delhi has recognised that the threat of escalation cuts both ways and it is
possible to turn the nuclear dimension and external intervention to India’s
advantage.
Consider,
for example, the recent claim of a former speaker of Pakistan’s national
assembly that army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa had quivering knees and a
sweaty brow, when Modi threatened to rain destruction on Pakistan if Islamabad
did not immediately release Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who had bailed
out in Pakistan after a dog fight with the Pakistani Air Force in February
2019.
Given the
region’s temptation for the theatrical, this claim is easily discounted. But
the Indian threat to escalate inevitably brought Washington into the picture.
There were reports that President Donald Trump persuaded Pakistan to release
the Indian pilot and avoid escalation.
If Delhi is
more willing than before to raise the stakes in confronting Pakistan-supported
terror, it has also benefited from the shift in the relative balance of power
between India and Pakistan. India’s economy today at $2.7 trillion is nearly 10
times that of Pakistan. As the US-India partnership becomes more comprehensive
and global, Pakistan’s ability to get Washington to act against India has
declined.
This does
not mean Pakistan has no leverage at all in Washington; or that it might simply
give up on the old Kashmir strategy. Pakistan sits at the critical confluence
of the subcontinent, Central Asia and the Gulf. It has nuclear weapons and a
strong army that can shape regional geopolitics. It can destabilise any
government in Kabul and foment violent religious extremism around the world.
How might
it all play out in Biden’s America? Biden is more familiar with the history of
US-Pakistan relations than his recent predecessors at the White House. As a
long term Senator and Vice-President, Biden has been engaged with
Pakistan-related issues for many years. Pakistan honoured Biden in 2008 with
the second highest civilian honour, Hilal-e-Pakistan. Biden was the chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at that time.
While its
relative weight in the US has declined vis-a-vis India, Pakistan has
longstanding friends in Washington and an expanding diaspora. Some of that was
seen in Pakistan’s successful mobilisation of political support during Prime
Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Washington in the summer of 2019. Trump was
eager to enlist Pakistan in getting the Taliban to the table and brokering a
peace settlement in Afghanistan.
Pakistan
did facilitate the US talks with the Taliban, but there is no real settlement
yet; nor a major reward to Islamabad from Washington. Could that change? Biden
has said little about US’s Afghan policy during the campaign; he has certainly
echoed Trump’s sentiment on ending America’s endless wars.
It is
unlikely that Biden will ramp up the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Afghan
leverage in Washington dramatically rose after the 9/11 attacks and peaked in
the early 2010s, when President Barack Obama’s military surge peaked to about 1,40,000
troops. An America that is headed to the exits in Afghanistan — there are
barely 4,500 US soldiers left there—is far less dependent on Pakistan.
Explained:
What does President-elect Joe Biden mean for India, its relationship with the
US?
What about
the proposition that Kashmir is the world’s most dangerous nuclear flashpoint?
After the Cold War, America’s interest in resolving the Kashmir question
acquired much intensity in the first term of President Bill Clinton (1993-97)
and the first year of Barack Obama (2009-10). On both occasions, intensive
Indian political and diplomatic efforts dampened Washington’s Kashmir activism.
Biden is
unlikely to have much bandwidth left for Kashmir as he copes with a range of
domestic and foreign policy challenges. The website set up last week on Biden’s
transition plans lists four urgent priorities — the Covid crisis, racial
inequality, economic security and climate change.
But
Pakistan is not giving up. In his tweet congratulating Biden and Harris last
week, Imran Khan offered to work with the new administration on “peace in
Afghanistan and the region”.
Pakistan’s
greatest success in recent months has been in targeting liberal American
opinion that has become critical of the state of Indian democracy, the constitutional
changes in Kashmir, and the Citizenship Amendment Act. It has had some impact
on the Democratic Party.
Biden’s
rival for Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, told the
annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America in September 2019
that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Kashmir and demanded that
Washington take bold steps in support of a UN effort to resolve the issue.
Some of
this is a part of America’s retail politics. In the end, though, the Democratic
Party’s election platform said nothing on either Kashmir or Pakistan; it
managed a bald sentence on investing in the strategic partnership with India.
What you say in the campaign is usually not what you do when in government.
Yet,
Pakistan is hoping that some of the Biden administration’s formulations on
human rights and democracy could be translated into US policy attention on
Kashmir. Modi, meanwhile, has made it clear that India has no time for the old
international debate on Kashmir. He has actively sought to change the terms of
the political discourse on Kashmir at home, with Pakistan and the international
community.
The Trump
administration preferred to take up US concerns on Kashmir behind closed doors
rather than in public. And it offered much support to India in preventing China
from raking it up in the United Nations Security Council. For Pakistan, though,
a fresh military crisis in Kashmir might come in handy to test Biden’s South
Asia policies.
-----
C. Raja Mohan is director, Institute of South
Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and contributing editor on
international affairs for The Indian Express
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/joe-biden-us-president-kashmir-dispute-india-7053843/
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Pakistan: Narco-Terror
By Tushar Ranjan
Mohanty
16 November
2020
Pakistan’s
biggest single drug haul of 2020 was made on November 12 in the Pasni coast
area of Gwadar District of Balochistan, when the Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG)
confiscated 751 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin, worth an estimated PKR
20 billion in the international market.
On October
21, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) seized 1917.85 kilograms of narcotics,
arrested 15 person’s and intercepted seven vehicles while conducting 14
counter-narcotics strikes throughout the country. The seized drugs included
1834.85 kilograms of Hashish, 15 kilograms of Opium and eight kilograms of
Heroin.
On October
15, ANF carried out operations across the country and arrested at least 18
narco-dealers, recovering 673 kilograms of narcotics from their possession. Of
18 suspected smugglers, three were women, and three others were foreigners. ANF
also seized five vehicles being used by the narco-dealers for transporting
drugs. The value of the recovered drugs is said to be USD 91.379 million in the
international market.
On October
8, 2020, ANF seized a huge haul of drugs worth more than PKR one billion from a
fishing boat during a raid on an island off the Karachi coast in Sindh. Sources
said the ANF intelligence wing conducted the raid in the night. On seeing the
ANF personnel, the suspected drug smugglers opened fire and managed to flee the
scene, leaving the narcotics in the boat. 426 kilograms of heroin and 57
kilograms of Hashish were recovered from the boat.
On October
2, 2020, Customs personnel foiled a smuggling bid and seized a huge quantity of
heroin worth PKR one billion in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. After
credible information was received by Tahir Qureshi, collector of the Model
Customs Collectorate, Gwadar, regarding an attempt to smuggle narcotics of
foreign origin from Quetta to Karachi, a raiding party was constituted. During
checking 176 kilograms of brown heroin was recovered from the fuel tank of a
six-wheeler vehicle.
Pakistan is
geographically vulnerable to drug trafficking, sharing a 2,430-kilomteres-long
porous border with Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of illicit opium.
Cannabis is also produced in large quantities in the sub-region, most of the
cannabis trafficked in the region also originates from Afghanistan, and is
processed in the inaccessible areas of Pakistan's tribal areas. According to
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates, approximately 43
per cent of the Afghan opiates are trafficked through Pakistan.
On August
29, 2020, Shehryar Khan Afridi, the Minister for State and Frontier Regions and
Narcotics Control, claimed that ANF had made the highest number of seizures of
drugs in the world, though he disclosed no figures. He said 85 per cent of the
drugs were produced in Afghanistan and fifty per cent of this 85 per cent were
being smuggled by using Pakistan’s land route.
The Tribal
Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and bordering districts of Balochistan
have long been used as a transit point for narcotics trafficking from
Afghanistan. Various reports have suggested that Pakistan's drug syndicates run
a parallel economy in connivance with select elements of the political and
military establishments. The alleged nexus between drug smugglers and politicians
has long been established, but has been reconfirmed in the recent past, when
the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President and former
Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan was arrested by ANF’s Lahore team
near Sukheki on July 1, 2019, while he was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore.
According to a statement released by ANF, “A large quantity of drugs was
recovered from Sanaullah’s car.” The politician was travelling with his guards
at the time of the arrest, the statement added.
Indeed,
describing the drugs menace in the region, the KP, tribal region, Inspector
General of Police (IGP) Sanaullah Abbasi disclosed on July 24, 2020,
The KP
police have arrested 15,566 drug dealers from across the province, including
the newly merged districts and around 28 armed encounters also took place with
the drug dealers, resulting in 25 fatalities during the year 2020… As many as
14,804 cases were registered and a total of 13,411.403 kilogrammes narcotics
were recovered during the period.
The drugs
seized included 557.943 kilogrammes of heroin, 11,081.542 kilogrammes of
hashish, 920.159 kilogrammes of opium, 851.759 kilogrammes of ‘ice’ (crystal
methamphetamine) and 20,587 bottles of liquor. Abbasi added that the Police had
also observed that drugs were intimately connected with the security of society
and their use was directly proportional to domestic abuse and rampant
crime.
A March
2017 ‘confidential report’ compiled by the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), an
intelligence service department active within the Ministry of Finance, had
observed that drug trafficking was one of the “main sources of income of
terrorists in Pakistan”.
Narco-terrorism
has not only resulted in an increasing number of drug addicts, but is also
responsible for the emergence of many organised criminal gangs that deal in
drugs and arms, kidnapping for ransom, targeted killings, speed money,
extortion, and financing terrorists. According to the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC), at least 8.9 million people in the country are drug
users. Organised drug gangs are so strong, they do not hesitate to attack ANF
and security personnel.
On August
10, 2020, at least six persons were killed and 21 were injured in a bomb blast
targeting an ANF vehicle on Mall Road in Chaman Town, Qilla Abdullah District,
Balochistan. According to Police Inspector Muhammad Mohsin, unidentified
persons had planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in a motorbike that
was parked on the roadside. Chaman town Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP)
Zakaullah Durrani asserted that the explosion targeted the ANF vehicle.
On July 17,
2020, two ANF personnel were killed after their convoy came under attack by
smugglers in the Mashkel area of Kharan District, Balochistan. The ANF team was
on its way back after seizing two vehicles loaded with drugs from near the
Pakistan-Iran border, when it was ambushed by the miscreants.
While
Pakistan has been the facing a grave challenge of narco-terrorism, the lack of
adequate funding and man power in ANF has further aggravated the crisis.
According
to an October 1, 2020, report, appointments had not been made in the ANF over
the last seven years and the force required significantly greater manpower to
curb the drug smuggling. Source added that ANF had demanded to 10,000
additional recruits, and the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control had
endorsed the demand. However only 500 appointments were allowed. 2,172
employees are working in ANF against 3,148 sanctioned posts, leaving 976
positions vacant. The force was also facing financial issues, and no funds for
recruitment had been provided.
Earlier on
March 14, 2018, ANF Secretary Iqbal Mehmood told the National Assembly Standing
Committee on Narcotics Control that the lack of support from the finance department
and the suspension of funding by the Government has almost crippled the ANF.
The PKR 2.5 billion provided by the Government for the fiscal year 2017-18 was
only enough to meet routine expenses. The apathy towards the Force was further
highlighted by Major General Muhammad Arif Malik, Director General ANF, on
August 8, 2019, when he stated that ANF has been struggling hard to wipe out
the menace of drugs from Pakistan.
The ANF in
all likelihood is not going to strengthened further. And the reason is simple.
There has
been a well-established nexus between the Taliban, Pakistan’s Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Police, and politicians who control the procurement,
production, and transportation of the heroin drugs using different routes to
markets abroad. To expect the masters to act against themselves is hardly
realistic.
An incident
at the beginning of the year further demonstrated this strong nexus. On January
10, 2020, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque-cum seminary, Darul
Uloom Al Sharia, in the Ghosabad area of Satellite Town in Quetta, the
Provincial capital of Balochistan, killing at least 15 persons and injuring
another 20. Later, Khaama Press, citing an unnamed Afghan security source,
reported that the explosion took place when an important meeting was going on
between Taliban militants, ISI members, and drug smugglers.
Further,
reports indicate that Pakistan has helped Taliban in its offensive in the
Helmand Province of Afghanistan in October 2020, with the drug trade providing
the principal motivation, among others.
Pakistan’s stakes in Afghanistan’s narcotics trade adds to the greater
significance of Helmand, one of the main poppy-growing areas in Afghanistan.
Opium poppy and heroin are among the main sources of income for the Taliban,
which controls 80 per cent of the drug production areas in Afghanistan.
Pakistan acts as a facilitator in transporting the drugs out of Afghanistan, in
processing, and in further distribution to other countries. The drug
consignments, in connivance with Pakistan’s authorities, are smuggled through
the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and thereafter, head for Pakistan’s air and
seaports and to further destinations in China, South and Southeast Asia, Africa
and Europe. Significant flows, controlled by ISI backed terrorist formations as
well as drug consortiums, are also pumped across the land boder into India,
particularly into Indian Punjab, with the help of Khalistani terrorist
formations located in Pakistan
Narco-money
has long been working to fuel terrorist groups. While there is no interruption
of the supply from across the porous border, state complicity in Pakistan, and
a general lethargy in policy establishment further aggravate the
situation.
Source:
South Asia Intelligence Review
------
‘Everything Is Not Based On Faith But Also On
Analysis And Reason. We Have To Listen To Scientists’
By Narayani Ganesh
November
13, 2020
Tibetan
spiritual leader the XIV Dalai Lama is an advocate of preserving ecology and
battling climate change. He interacted with Narayani Ganesh from Dharamsala to
explain how he harnesses both the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and modern
scientific knowledge to deal with the issue of climate change:
Decisions
made by politicians today, with reference to climate change and energy, will
affect youth in 10-15 years’ time. Should youngsters be part of the policy
making process to secure their future?
It is
important that the younger generation does not follow the present (adult)
generation and their way of thinking. The youth need to remember that they are
part of a community of seven billion people on the planet; what matters is
oneness. I feel that the education we are giving to our children today is not
adequate. India needs to include ancient Indian wisdom while teaching modern
systems. The person who embraced both systems was Gandhiji – he followed
ancient Indian traditions like ahimsa as well as modern thought. We need to
give serious thought to including secular concepts like ahimsa, non-violence,
and karuna, compassion, in the education system. This way, the younger
generation will get more material to think about and enrich their minds and
gain wisdom, instead of blindly following textbooks.
Should
young people help form policy?
Now this is
difficult for me to say but I do want to share my own commitment and thinking:
First, as a human being, I am one of seven billion human beings, so I need to
think of entire humanity. Second, I am a Buddhist monk, so when I see violence
of any kind I feel it is very unfortunate. There are different kinds of
philosophical thinking; some say there is a god; others say there is no god but
all religions and faiths carry the message of love, forgiveness and tolerance.
In India, almost all major world religious traditions live together generally
harmoniously with mutual respect, not only in modern India but also 1,000 years
ago. So my commitment is promotion of this harmony.
My main
concern is preservation of ecology and preservation of Tibetan knowledge, which
is essentially the Nalanda tradition that emphasises analysis, logic and
reason, and we have kept that tradition for over 1,000 years.
In the past
few decades I have had serious discussions with modern scientists because our
thinking is not fixed but is based on investigation. In the Nalanda tradition,
teachers investigated the brain, particles and subatomic particles, the mind
and gave detailed explanations. You see, everything is not based on faith but
also on analysis and reason.
The Buddha
himself said to followers, do not listen to or follow my teaching out of faith,
but after thorough investigation and experiment. So that’s my commitment. All
this knowledge comes from India so usually I joke that how traditionally you
Indians are our guru and Tibetans are chela. But now chela knows more than
guru! India has the opportunity to combine modern knowledge and ancient Indian
knowledge about mind. India can make significant contribution to world peace
through inner peace.
Whatever
awareness you have of environmental issues today is through scientists and not
through meditation. Would you advise us to listen more to scientists?
Meditation
and prayer are not enough. We have to listen to scientists and take correct
action as recommended by them. Spiritual gurus should advise their followers to
have faith not only in god and religion but also in what scientists have to
say. Some religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism that believe in one
god say just faith in god is sufficient. Buddhist Nalanda tradition right from
beginning emphasises investigation. Indian tradition has non-theistic
religions. Buddha was not a creator, he was a teacher. It is all about learning
through sharing. Yes, you can meditate; it helps you remain calm. Buddhism and
Jainism have no creator.
The Buddha
himself, soon after his enlightenment, gave his first dharma teaching in
Sarnath, then, in Rajgir he taught more complicated topics. Third teaching,
because the second one was complicated, he made it simpler. This shows his own
way of following a different variety of philosophy to be taught according to
(receptivity of) people. This is the Nalanda tradition – have different views,
different philosophies, discuss and debate. The Ultimate Truth is most probably
One – but till then, several truths are there.
Your new
book, ‘Our Only Home: A climate appeal to the world’ deals at length with the
climate crisis. Should it be included in school curriculum?
That is
entirely up to the schools. I think different books with different ideas help
to open the mind – and to have an open mind and learn, analyse and investigate
is very important.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/treasurehunt/everything-is-not-based-on-faith-but-also-on-analysis-and-reason-we-have-to-listen-to-scientists/
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For Joe Biden, from the Jawaharlal Nehru of
1945
By Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Nov 13,
2020
The great
relief in the shape of the United States (US) Presidential election result has
made 2020 a less unbearable year. The White House now looks like reason’s home.
The very
opposite happened 75 years ago.
In the
April of 1945, when President Franklin D Roosevelt, respected across the
democratic world, died of a protracted illness, the White House suddenly had a
question mark settle over it. No one knew what Vice-President HS Truman, who
had entered that building, was like.
What was
India’s reaction? The Congress’s entire leadership was in jail. Mahatma Gandhi,
from his Poona prison, sent Eleanor Roosevelt a telegram typically prophetic of
him: “My humble condolences and congratulations. Latter because your
illustrious husband died in harness and after point where allied victory had
become certain. He was spared humiliating spectacle of being party to peace
which threatens to be prelude to war bloodier still if possible.”
Vallabhbhai
Patel, from his Ahmednagar prison, wrote to his daughter, Maniben, on April 14:
“Yesterday we had news of President Roosevelt’s death. Much was expected of him
in the future. In today’s selfish world he stood out as a strong man interested
to some extent in the world’s welfare…No one knows what God wants and where He
wants to take this world.” Jawaharlal Nehru, in the same prison, writing what
was to become The Discovery of India, described Roosevelt as one whom “many
people all over the world looked up to”, as “a man of vision and high
statesmanship”.
So, there
was uncertainty, worry, even fear over the future. Let us, on this anniversary
of Nehru’s birth, look at him, in that year, 1945.
A prisoner
at Ahmednagar, the 56-year-old Jawaharlal had been working on writing what was
to become the great book that I have just mentioned. He was to dedicate it: “To
my colleagues and co-prisoners in the Ahmednagar Fort Prison Camp from 9 August
1942 to 28 March 1945.” These colleagues included Vallabhbhai Patel (67),
Pattabhi Sitaramayya (62), GBPant (55), Maulana Azad (54), JB Kripalani (54),
Asaf Ali (54), Syed Mahmud (53), Narendra Deva (53), PC Ghosh (51), Shankerrao
Deo (47), HK Mahtab (42). Six of the 12 managed to produce books of moment —
Nehru wrote his Discovery; Azad penned his collection of letters,
Ghubar-i-Khatir; Mahtab documented the history of Orissa; Kripalani did a study
of Gandhi; Deva reconstructed a Sanskrit work from French; and Sitaramayya
wrote a valuable diary.
An
altogether new activity held and bound Nehru with Patel — gardening.
Sitaramayya noted in his diary: “In front of his verandah the Sardar has grown
… blue flowers interspersed with a few pinks ( which ) present a beauty… of
heavenly glory.” And as for Jawaharlal, the diarist wrote that the man was
“sowing, digging, planting, pruning, watering and weeding…in the hot sun with
his hat on and in pouring rain with his raincoat.” Kripalani said Jawaharlal
had turned “a barren and dreary compound without even a blade of grass” into a
place of beauty.
But we can
be sure that behind all this there was great anxiety about the country’s fate
and the uncertain, war-weary world. Nehru wrote in the pages that were going to
become his famous book: “Mr H G Wells has been telling the world, with all the
fire of an old prophet, that…it is the system of nationalistic individualism
and un-coordinated enterprise that is the world’s disease…Prophets are ignored
and sometimes even stoned by their generation.”
Nehru had
no idea, at this point, of when he would be released, when India would have its
own government. He didn’t know that events would move fast, that he would
become India’s prime minister, and his gardening companion, the deputy prime
minister, but that the man both of them regarded as India’s path-finder would
be assassinated.
He did not
know that, as Prime Minister of India, he would be addressing Asian and African
leaders at Bandung on April 22, 1955, saying: “The leaders of great nations
like the President of the United States of America have to carry a world of
responsibility…a tremendous burden.”
President-elect
Joe Biden’s burden is about the world’s safety — from errors and terrors,
nuclear, chemical, biological. It is also about the world being made safe from
its own globe-warming, globe-infecting ways. He will be helped by an India that
speaks not in terms of “nationalist individualism” but of world safety.
Writing in his
Ahmednagar cell Nehru said: “Unity is always better than disunity but an
enforced unity is a sham and dangerous affair, full of explosive possibilities.
Unity must be of the head and heart, a sense of belonging together…” Biden is
speaking of that belonging together. He knows what he has inherited.
On this
anniversary, we may ask: “Do we know what we are inheriting?” Are Nehru and
Patel gardening India today?
-----
Gopalkrishna Gandhi is a former administrator,
diplomat and governor
https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/for-joe-biden-from-the-jawaharlal-nehru-of-1945/story-UImIIPctpHwJZ9Cf0QviCO.html
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URL: https://newageislam.com/indian-press/indian-press-kashmiri-muslims,-military/d/123489
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