Intellectuals of a certain bent have continuously acted as the first line of defence for Islamic Terrorism and Extremism. We witnessed the same happen in Kashmir for thirty years.  The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus was portrayed as voluntary migration. Radical Islamic Terrorism was turned into a battle for freedom. And the rape and murder of Kashmiri Hindus and the destruction of hundreds of Temples were brushed under the carpet. Some people like Barkha Dutt even justified the ethnic cleansing.

We witnessed a similar turn of events during the anti-CAA protests. The entire coterie of intellectuals and the mainstream media worked hard at their propaganda to turn a Radical Islamic protest into a “people’s protest” but that propaganda did not work. Faiz’s poem littered with Islamic supremacist overtones was whitewashed. The motivation behind these protests was propagandized to be secular when, clearly, they were motivated by the worst form of Islamic Supremacism.

The Sacred Hindu symbol of Swastika was desecrated and insulted and compared to the Nazi symbol and yet, it’s the Hindus who were accused of bigotry and being ‘illiterate’ when they took offence. A similar stance was adopted when Hindus took offence to the desecration of ‘Om’ during these protests. The Islamic Supremacist sloganeering combined with such anti-Hindu imagery left no doubt about the nature of these protests.

Perpetual Victimhood

During these protests, the relationship between the Hindu and Muslim communities was damaged greatly and perhaps, irreparably. The first step towards repairing the relationship would have been to acknowledge all the crimes that were committed and apologizing for the same. The anti-Hindu sloganeering, the slogans calling for partitions, all those ought to have been condemned. The next step would have been to help the administration catch the criminals who engaged in violence and such behaviour. These should have been the first steps towards repairing interfaith relationships but the community, egged on by the intellectual mafia, is more interested in playing victim than genuine communal harmony.

The same has happened in Kashmir for thirty years. Even after committing a genocide, Kashmiri Muslims still claim to be victims. And the intellectual mafia continues to pander to their Islamic supremacist inclinations. Not once has there been an honest apology for the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus and not once did the intellectual mafia ask them to apologize and offer reparations for the same. And the same continues to this day.

Secularism: The burden Hindus must suffer alone

Even after suffering a genocide, the burden of upholding secularism falls on the shoulders of Hindus. It’s always Hindus that must adhere to the diktats of Secularism while other communities are free to dance on the corpses of the pillars of secularism they have just murdered. Hindus can be subjected to hate speech, disgusting taunts, and even genocide but if they retaliate by exercising their democracy of voting for a political party liberals and Islamic extremists are not fond of, Hindus will be labeled fascists and Nazis.

Kashmiri Muslims have never been asked to adhere to secular values. Even after chanting ‘Hinduon se Azadi’, when Muslims make ‘La ilaha illallah’ (There is no God but Allah) the central slogan of their anti-CAA protests, it’s the Hindus who are accused of bigotry if they find the latter slogan problematic. The genocide of Kashmiri Hindus and the consequent treatment they have been subject to by Kashmiri Muslims following the ethnic cleansing is a testament to the fact that no matter how hard Hindus try, no matter to what extent Hindus appease Islamic Extremism, they will never ever be Secular enough. And it’s a futile endeavour that’s not worth the effort.

References:

opindia.com - K Bhattacharjee