Pahalgam attack: Fascist Modi government is accountable for the deaths! Don’t fall prey to communal fascist hate-mongering!
Pahalgam attack: Fascist Modi government is accountable for the deaths!
Don’t fall prey to communal fascist hate-mongering!
इस पोस्ट को हिन्दी में पढ़ने के लिए इस लिंक पर क्लिक करें
– Issued by Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI)
The terror attack and killing of tourists and common citizens in a popular tourist destination Pahalgam in Kashmir, exposes the failure of the Modi government in protecting the lives of people in Kashmir, and the failure of all its policies with regards to Kashmir. Questions are already being raised by people on whether this is a Pulwama-2 incident as many things do not seem to add up! The way and the swiftness with which BJP-RSS and their entire fascist machinery has sprung up in action post this attack to fan the venomous communal fascist fire also seem to add plausibility to the questions being asked pertaining to the claims of safety and security trumpeted by the Modi regime post Article 370 abrogation.
Drums were beaten up on the abrogation of Article 370 and Home Minister Amit Shah could be seen using every stage to thump his chest for ending terrorism and bringing “normalcy” in Kashmir. In the last few years, the Godi Media has left no stone unturned in convincing the people of India that everything is “normal” in Kashmir. The data of increase in the number of tourists in the valley was being given as evidence in support of “normalcy” in the region. However, history has shown time and again that peace and normalcy cannot prevail in the region as long as the genuine aspirations of the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people continue to be crushed under the jackboot.
Many incidents in the recent past, including some in the Jammu region, have been consistently pushed under the carpet by this very Godi media to demonstrate the “success” of the Modi government. The non-fielding of a single candidate by BJP in the recent elections in the Kashmir valley is a testimony to the “popularity” of BJP among Kashmiris. Looking at the statistics from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, one can see that the number of killing incidents that had dropped to 91 in 2014, had risen to nearly 150 by 2022. Nearly 30 civilians and 30 security force members were killed, along with 193 militants. Many incidents have occurred in the last few years. A drone attack took place on 27th June 2021 on the Jammu airport of IAF. 17 armed attacks took place in Srinagar in July 2021. 33 citizens were killed in Oct 2021. On 9th March 2022, Sarpanch Samir Ahmed Bhat was killed. On 3rd April 2022, migrant workers were targeted in Srinagar. Similar incidents happened in Pulwama on 3-4 April 2022. On 25th May 2022, the actor Ambarin Bhat was killed. On 13th May 2022, Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit was killed in a targeted killing incident. Two Kashmiri Pandits Makhaan Lal Bindru and Rahul Bhat were killed in Oct 2022. Thus, discontinuous waves of terrorist attacks have been rising in Jammu and Kashmir after 2019.
The fascist BJP regime has not only pursued the policy of national oppression followed by the Indian state, it has also added new dimensions to the attack on civil-democratic rights, and the repression of activists and journalists, delimiting the constituencies to reduce the relative electoral strength of the Kashmir valley as compared to Jammu as part of their communal fascist divisive politics, revision of electoral rolls for non-Kashmiris, many measures taken to change the domicile rules, property and land ownership laws and also the demography of Kashmir, all of which have further added to the discontent among Kashmiris. The oppression of the Kashmir nation and the betrayal by the Indian state that began in the days of Nehru, was taken to a new height in 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
The Modi-Shah government that claimed to bring “normalcy” in Kashmir must answer why the Kashmiri Pandits have not been able to return to the Kashmir valley yet. The fact is that the Hindu identity of Kashmiri Pandits, who were an intrinsic part of the Kashmiri culture (Kashmiriyat) and were displaced under the rule of RSS-BJP’s own Jagmohan, has been used as a political tool by the RSS-BJP pariwar to promote communal tensions in the entire country. The growing terrorist reaction in Kashmir is also a result of the communal politics of the RSS-BJP in remaining parts of the country that is promoting animosity among people in the name of religion.
The media is pointing towards the involvement of Pakistan in the Pahalgam terrorist act. Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba backed outfit ‘The Resistance Front’ has allegedly taken responsibility for the attack on the civilians. The role of the Pakistani state in promoting and sponsoring terrorist acts in Kashmir valley is undeniable. The Pakistani ruling class itself is facing people’s resistance in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in response to the national oppression of the Baloch people and Pashtuns and also in Pakistan controlled Kashmir. In other parts of Pakistan also the incidents of terrorism have increased in recent years. There is increasing Islamisation of Pakistani society that is openly promoted by the Pakistani ruling classes and Pakistani army. The Pakistani economy is in tatters, leading to large-scale discontent among the people of Pakistan. It has also happened in the past that whenever mass discontent increases in Pakistan, its rulers rake up the Kashmir issue to divert people’s attention from the real issues. However, the mainstream media that is largely sitting in the laps of RSS and BJP does not inform the people of India that it is the communal fascist and divisive politics of Sangh Parivar that facilitates the Pakistani ruling class and its army to sponsor terrorism in India. Also, when the Godi media talks about involvement of Pakistan, it is often done with the intention of targeting the Muslim community at large and blaming the entire community for the acts of terrorism. Thereby the terrorist acts themselves become a weapon to spread the hateful communal fascist agenda. The Godi media is conveniently hiding the fact that many Kashmiris helped the survivors and many of them are protesting against the terrorist act.
In fact, ruling classes and the religious fundamentalists on both sides of the border complement each other. Islamisation of Pakistan by the Islamic fundamentalists and Hinduisation of India by the Hindutva fascists serve the ruling classes of Pakistan and India. Those who support religious fundamentalist and fascist politics in any manner do not have any moral right to feel outraged by the Pahalgam-like terrorist incident. It only shows their hypocrisy. The communal fascist politics of RSS and BJP has converted every issue including that of Kashmir into a clash between Hindus and Muslims. Whatever happened in Pahalgam is a culmination of this hateful politics that has been taken to its height in the last decade of Modi-Shah government. This communal fascist government and the Sangh Parivar cannot escape from its culpability in the killing of innocent civilians. In fact, Hindu and Islamic fundamentalist forces have been responsible for increasing violence and bloodshed in the entire Indian subcontinent.
It has been said often, and the question arises now as well. Why is it that only in the backdrop of an election such terror attacks happen? The Pulwama incident, which resulted in the deaths of many Indian soldiers, was used as an election propaganda tool by the BJP; but the complicity of the Modi government in letting the incident happen was exposed by one of their own, the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik. It is not without reason that speculations are rife on social media that this incident is a Pulwama-2 incident. Questions are already being raised on the non-presence of Indian security forces in such a popular tourist spot where this incident took place. The local people of Pahalgam tried to resist the attack and have strongly protested these killings, but the absence of security forces in this area raises serious questions.
On one hand, this incident will have a serious effect on the economy of tourism in Kashmir, destroying the livelihoods of working masses of the region. On the other hand, nationalist communal jingoism will be furthered by the RSS-BJP machinery now, in order to create “suitable” issues for the upcoming Bihar and later West Bengal polls. They are already using the Waqf issue to target the Muslim community. Hindutva Fascists will use this as an alibi to target Muslims and other opponents, to make the pressing issues of unemployment, inflation, poverty, corruption into secondary issues. This is an oft repeated fascist strategy once again at play.
We demand just compensation to the citizen victims of the Pahalgam attack. We appeal to all citizens not to fall prey to the communal hate-mongering that is being unleashed by RSS-BJP and Godi media. We demand that the oppression of the Kashmiri people by the Indian state must stop! We appeal to the people of India that the Modi government must be held accountable for these attacks!
Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI)
