What do you think will happen next? How will the anger in the streets be channelised?
The leaders -- both mainstream and the separatists -- are largely incompetent. They have definitely and in a big way failed the people of Kashmir.
Now they are being pushed by people. A lot of leaders told me they were actually dragged out. They are now riding a wave. They have no serious long term thinking. Directing and leading such a movement takes a lot of thought and imagination on the part of leaders.
There is this argument in some quarters that India has provided them with everything...
Provided with what?
Jobs and opportunities... And there has been so much money pumped in...
Kashmir is never about money. Kashmir is not one of the poorest regions in South Asia. If revolts are all about money, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad should be up in a thousand revolts.
India did pump in a lot of money, and a lot of people thrived and exploited the fact that money has been thrown at them. I know such people and I have seen what they earn and how they live.
But Kashmir is about politics. It is an ethno-nationalist problem. If it was about money, India should be having like 17 wars going on.
Buy Curfewed Night at the Rediff Bookshop!
Image: Kashmiri women at a polling station near Srinagar. Photograph: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images
Also Read: Votes and threats in the Valley of Fear
Advertisement
