Kudos to Arundhati, You are a Ray of Hope!

Article first published as Kudos to Arundhati, You are a Ray of Hope! on Technorati

Arundhati Roy deserves Kudos. She deserves accolades for her brave statement defying Indian state’s warning that she would face criminal charges, for her support to the national aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Arundhati Roy, a booker prizewinner, had been actively supporting social movements of the poor, ever since she came to limelight after winning booker prize in 1997.

Arundhati Roy and a leader of the Kashmir movement Syed Ali Shah Geelani were threatened with facing a case of sedition by the Delhi Police with support from Union Home Ministry. The legal opinion sought by the Union Home Minister favored registering a case against them under Section 124-A of Indian Penal Code that states, “whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the State” can be sentenced to five year rigorous imprisonment.

Arundhati Roy spoke at a seminar on “Azadi (independence) – The Only Way” along with S A S Geelani and pro-Maoist writer Varavara Rao held on October 21 in Delhi. She said in her speech, “Kashmir has never been part of India.” She was true when her statement was taken in terms of the wishes of the people in Kashmir.

If not, why Shaik Abdullah was kept in jail for 17 years for asking the Nehru Government to implement its promise of ‘plebiscite’? Why the people of Kashmir had continuously been on warpath against Indian Government? Why the police, para-military and military forces had continuously been stationed in Kashmir? Why hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri youth had been killed by the Army since the eruption of freedom struggle in 1989? Why even women including housewives, students and employees are coming to streets to shout “Go India, go back”?

For Indian rulers and the so-called Hindu nationalist organizations, accession of Kashmir into India means mere accession of Kashmir land with India, but not emotional accession of Kashmir people with Indian nation. Kashmir people never accepted that they are part of India. Kashmir nationalism has historical roots of being a separate nation for centuries.

This was what told by Ms Arundhati Roy to her audience at the seminar. What she told was the reality of the Kashmir. Those who do not recognize it for their own interests, automatically depend on military forces to suppress the natural aspirations of the Kashmir people. They also try to suppress voices and writings that support the voices of the people. Hence the case of sedition on Arundhati came to the fore.

But Arundhati defied it. She said, “I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years.” Arundhati added, “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free."

Damn right is she. Ironically, those who are supposed to be behind bars have occupied seats in the Parliament and Assemblies and they are dictating the terms who should sit behind bars. Arundhati Roy is becoming a ray of hope for the distressed and oppressed people of India.

However, the Union Government seems to be backed off from its “go-ahead nod” to Delhi Police, sensing the ramifications of proceeding with the case.

Technorati Tags: Arundhati Roy,Kashmir struggle,Azadi,Sedition case

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