JUST SPAMMING | Too Many Questions Can Besmirch The Truth
Those who always held the view that terrorism in the troubled valley was only because of religion took the reports that perpetuated the image of the militants being driven by religious fervor seriously and started berating about it in air conditioned drawing rooms and television studios
Two events that unfolded in different salubrious locales last week – one a terrible tragedy and the other a comic drama – led to complicated situations that made it difficult to sift the lies out of the media offerings thus stifling the truth. First, when the tragedy struck tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, too many stories were floated about the mindless massacre. One set of stories were disseminated to paint the community of those suspected to have committed the diabolical act of gunning down 26 innocent tourists as evil while the other set was put out with a diametrically opposite view of driving home the point that an entire community or religion cannot be held responsible for the misdeeds of a few.
Whatever it was, people took the reports in their own way. Those who always held the view that terrorism in the troubled valley was only because of religion took the reports that perpetuated the image of the militants being driven by religious fervor seriously and started berating about it in air conditioned drawing rooms and television studios. But eyewitness accounts and personal narrations of people who narrowly missed the bullet painted a different picture of many locals helping them or even saving their lives came handy for those who always held the view that terrorism had only ruined the lives of the local people, who have always resented and even resisted it.
The point is that truth became the causality in the contradictory narratives that emerged from the tragedy with television channels increasing their TRP rating and politicians earning brownie points. Of course, the event pushed peace to the precipice with a potential war looming over the horizon and the waters of River Indus likely to get diverted to spite farmers who belonged to the country that allegedly spawned terrorism. With developments happening in quick succession in diverse arenas, it has become difficult to discern certain truths of the matter and find answers to some questions raised in public.
First, was the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir really conducive for people to holiday there? Even if populated places had managed to purge terrorists from their territories through patrolling and constant surveillance, how safe were remote places like Pahalgam where the massacre took place last week? Was it true that tour operators had been advised to not take visitors to places like Pahalgam though they are known for their scenic beauty? Many such questions are being raised, which ultimately end up in victim bashing - why should they go there?
Of course such questions divert attention from the real issues that plague Jammu and Kashmir from time immemorial. But the point here is that such questions prevent the truth about the latest massacre from coming out in the same fashion in which the truth behind the conference of vice chancellors of Tamil Nadu at Ooty turning into a fiasco getting besmirched. Since there are claims and counterclaims from the organisers, the State Governor, and those who are accused of stopping vice chancellors from attending the event, ie the State Government, in the public domain, it is not clear as to why the vice chancellors boycotted the event that they had been patronizing for the past few years.
While the organizers hurl very strong and serious allegations against the Government – the Governor himself came out with a statement likening the police threatening academics eager to take part in the conclave to what was happening during the Emergency – the Government is questioning the locus standi of the Governor to convene the conference after the Supreme Court has delivered a verdict against his actions regarding Bills passed by the State Assembly. The Government has said that there was no need for it to arm twist Vice Chancellors for they themselves were aware of the court verdict and would not like to attend a conference of that sort.
But the question is: Did the State police knock at the doors of the hotel rooms in the same manner in which the jackboots of yore landed at the doorsteps of Jews in Nazi Germany or at the dwellings or hideouts of India’s opposition party leaders and anyone considered a thorn in the flesh of the Union Government in those days of the Emergency? If it was true that vice chancellors were told that they would not be able to return home, as the Governor alleged, or were even intimidated in a police station after they had reached Ooty, then it is a matter of serious concern.
For all said and done, the Governor has not been stripped of the post of chancellor of many universities and cannot be blamed for calling the conclave, though it is a matter of intrigue that private universities for which he is not the chancellor, turned up for the event. But what gave a comic twist to the melodrama was the Governor suspecting the Chief Minister of being afraid of the ‘consequences of rise in standards of State universities, which largely caters to Dalit and poor students and any quality improvement will make them aspirational and inspirational that could be a threat to his political future.’ To put it in perspective, the Governor claims that if the Vice Chancellors of State universities attended his two-day conclave in Ooty, the standards of the universities would improve to the extent that it would jeopardize the political future of DMK.
