LK Advani’s Blog

I feel very happy that in both the important debates that took place in the Lok Sabha last week – Nuclear Liability Bill, and situation in J & K State – our BJP participants made an excellent contribution.

Jaswant Singh spoke on the Nuclear issue, and politely but firmly took the Government to task for trying to hustle the passage of the Bill. In so far as nuclear energy installations are concerned, the world today is a buyers’ market. If India were to approach this matter leisurely and cautiously, it would be in national interest. But obviously our Government’s agreement with Washington two years back was sort of an IOU that we signed, Jaswant Singhji emphasised. It is a hundi we signed on 10 September, 2008 which imposes an obligation on us. This only detracts from the importance of what we are doing !

Dr. M.M. Joshi speaking on J & K situation was equally effective. He said that when some members repeatedly talk about opening a dialogue with those who are indulging in violence in order to sort out their ‘genuine grievances’, one cannot understand what ‘genuine’ grievances they are thinking of. Is the demand for Azadi a genuine grievance ? Dr. Joshi said that in that state those who talk about autonomy speak in the same breath about azadi as if the two words are synonymous !

I am happy therefore that Dr. Farooq Abdullah not only denounced this azadi talk unequivocally, he went further to recall Parliament’s unanimous resolution of 1994 and to assert that when we think about J & K State we must not think only of the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh; we must never forget that Pak occupied Kashmir and Northern territory are also part of India !

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A finer depiction of ground realities in J&K has recently been given by Lt. Gen (Retd.) S.K. Sinha, former Governor, J&K. I quote below what he said while addressing a Defence Services Veterans Conclave at New Delhi on August 27, 2010 :

“Apart from relentless hostility towards India, Pakistan has a pathological obsession about Kashmir.

It tried war in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 but could not succeed. It has been trying terrorism for twenty years but even that has not achieved its objective.

The new strategy since 2008 has been to generate a mass movement to secure secession. Amarnath controversy based on total falsehood and fraud generated a communal tornado. The same tactics of falsehood and fraud was tried again in 2009 regarding the rape and murder of two young women at Shopian. The Valley was held to ransom for nearly two months. Amarnath and Shopian were dress rehearsals for generating mass movement by exploiting an emotive issue to arouse a frenzy for Azadi.

It was the religious card in 2008, Kashmiri honour in 2009 and youngsters getting killed as a result of Police firing in 2010. Whereas the first two were based on falsehood the latter is on the basis of manufactured reality.

The stone pelting operations were started to time with Indo-Pak Foreign Minister’s talks. It is continuing and the pot is being kept boiling in preparation for a full blown intefada in November during Obama’s visit, when the global media focus will be on the sub-continent.”

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A Rare Film-maker

The villages which film goers generally see in Bollywood movies are phoney, studio outfits. As a rule, the actors are no different. They also are patently urban folk and not the farmers, rural folk etc, they portray in the film.

When last week Aamir Khan arranged a special show of his Peepli Live for our N.D.A. MPs, I complimented him on the fact that his film was a sharp contrast. It was a starkly realistic depiction of village life. For many urban viewers, it may have been a first time experience.

I was greatly impressed also by the caricature the film had made out of the rivalry between TV Channels, and between politician. How farcical and ridiculous the greed for TRPs can prove for the TV media was exposed by the film very effectively. But I wish for the main theme of the story, the film-makers had chosen some subject other than farmers’ suicide.

I told Aamir: I have been to villages in Andhra and Vidarbha where many such suicides have taken place. And I can well imagine how distressed these families would feel if they were to see the film and find that the tragedies they have passed through were being made an object of mockery. The film would have been very effective if it had chosen some subject like NREGA as the central theme.

Even so, this latest production of his also once again shows that Aamir is a rare film maker who never hesitates to experiment with off-beat stuff. This film impresses even though Aamir is not the director; nor is he acting in the film. The director is Ms. Anusha Rizvi, a former TV journalist. If this is her debut film she certainly deserves rich kudos. And so does Omkar Das Manikpuri the lead actor who has faced a cine camera for the first time in his life.

L.K. Advani
New Delhi

August 29, 2010

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Tags: and situation in J & K State, Debate in Lok Sabha, Nuclear Liability Bill

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