I had mixed emotions regarding the proposed Ekta Yatra. I was pained to see Indians needing permission to hoist flag on our republic day. But yet something within me made me feel something was not right here. And that was the cause of confusion. To clear the emotions, I asked myself 'What would have Bapu, the father of nation, done on the occasion'? And the answer, or the search to it, cleared my doubts.
While I can't even imagine to think like Gandhi, I felt he would have gone ahead with the Ekta Yatra, and invited the other group to go ahead with their program. And this sounded attrocious even to a Gandhi admirer like me. Yet I thought further, and once again saluted the genius of Gandhi. I think the action would have achieved three objectives - it would have been a good PR, shown the moral high ground, and above all won hearts.
Imagine the positive PR. Here's the world's biggest democracy allowing its dissidents to express their views, and its allowing it not by the use of police, but through the common action of its citizens. The dissidents in Kashmir often complaint that they are not allowed to express their opinion, I am not sure if this would be the case after this.
Sure, if India wants it can have our tricolor unfurled in Lal Chowk by deploying the armed forces. And it can prevent any one from doing so, again by deploying the armed forces. But then is this the India that he dreamt of? Are decisions here to be taken by the brute force? My heart aches to imagine the plight of ordinary citizen of Kashmir today. The entire valley must have been turned into a battle field. Curfew, shoot at sight orders, section 144, all the usual weapons of the state. And for what, because some people want to hoist flag on a particular, and only on a particular piece of land. Damn it.
What moral right does the originator of this Yatra have to cause immense suffering to citizens of Kashmir.And therein lies the biggest weapon of Gandhi armory that this Yatra has missed. They can unfurl the flag, they can win argument, but this method can't win hearts. Let's remember Gandhi's weapon of not winning arguments, not winning armed battles, but of winning hearts. Perhaps India can better achieve its objectives if it were to win hearts in Kashmir. And allowing a section that is angry with us to speak their heart out would perhaps be a key part of our struggle. Is the flag more important than the piece where it is unfurled. An ordinary citizen can't celebrate, can't mourn, can't live its ordinary day to day life, because you want to unfurl your flag. Sure the police force is their to protect the people. But God forbid if someone dies in the event. Some groups will garner extra support. Its all for a larger cause, we will be told. But the words of Gandhi after Chaur Chaura echo in my ears, "tell this to the families of those who died".
To wrap up, and to again reiterate, I neither have the vision, nor the wisdom, to think like Gandhi. But if I ask myself if thinking as to how he would have acted, this is what I thought. And this removed the cobwebs of confusion. Think about it.
