Flags Of Alienation

It seems perfectly apparent that the government of India has completely alienated the people of the Kashmir valley.

As this news report from the ToI says, the police hoisted the Indian tricolour at Srinagar's Lal Chowk (named after Moscow's Red Square by the socialist Sheikh Abdullah) in the morning, but by the evening, at the same spot, the citizenry hoisted their own flags. Burqa-clad women burnt the tricolour.

I sincerely wonder how assembly elections can be held in Kashmir this November. In either case, Kashmiris have been boycotting elections for over a decade now.

I had the experience of visiting Srinagar in 2002, where I lectured in a few colleges. It was particularly horrifying to be in a city where there are armed soldiers posted every 5 yards. All traffic roundabouts (where there should be flowers) had been converted into military bunkers. Machine gun barrels stuck out of them, and Mera Bharat Mahaan was emblazoned on each. As an Indian, I felt that this was not India at all; it was occupied territory. The principal of Amar Singh College told me how one of his brightest students just "disappeared."

Later the same year, the New York Sun invited me to review Sumantra Bose's Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace. This excellent book is a must read. What it clearly proves is that conventional "solutions" to the Kashmir problem – like a plebiscite – are actually dangerous. It also shows that the "democratic representatives" of the Kashmiris (like the Abdullah clan) are all clients of the socialist Indian State.

I therefore have no solution to offer on Kashmir. All I can affirm is that it is futile to try and beat a people into submission.

We can only win the minds and hearts of a people through moral and intellectual suasion. This, unfortunately, is something that The State is incapable of doing. And the natural fallout of this inability is this total alienation.

But then, such alienation is not limited to Kashmir.

The North-East is equally alienated.

200 districts are under Naxalite control.

And liberals are not allowed to form political parties.

I have decided, therefore, to fly my own flag too.

It is a blue flag with a yellow star in the centre: the flag of the old Swatantra Party.