This is a reprint from NewsBred.
I sincerely believe we would never know the forces of our world till we read Animal Farm by George Orwell. It tells the story of a society consisting of only two forces, one who wants control and the other who is controlled. The one that wants control uses propaganda, deception, money, violence and terror. It covers up its tracks with moral positions. The other one is easily duped by these methods. According to Orwell's Animal Farm, one only fall in either of the two categories: controllers and controlled.
Propaganda makes use of a primary weapon: the historical, religious, caste, and race divides which are ever-present in any society. Propagandists keep driving a wedge into these fault lines so that society remains divided. The classic "Divide and Rule" formula. Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, and Christians are made suspicious of each other. They tear each other apart rather than rejoice in common themes between them.
Lilliputian leaders ride high on the animosity between groups in order to win elections. They are damned if they improve the lot of those who voted them into power. Nor do the propagandists fret, for it was never their aim to improve the lives of the controlled. They want to keep society weak and polarized. They want to keep society sick, just like a patient who never leaves the couch of a loathsome doctor while he sucks the patient dry of all resistance and resources.
So identify which of the two groups you belong to. Don't delude yourself into believing that you fall into neither group. It is as if one who does not fall into either group does not exist, and one does not matter to society. Those who do not matter will also pay a price, and so will their children. To be neutral is to be considered dangerous to society and the next generation.
I take my role as one of the "NewsBred", as one that takes on the propagandists. One could argue that the like of Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose are not propagandists, and that they believe in a just and equal society. That they believe in the freedom of the individual, and they do not want intolerance and injustice to exist in society.
Every time one deludes oneself in misplaced trust, and comes out in defense of news-peddlers, then they only need to give themselves one simple test. As an Indian you are told daily that Kashmir is burning. Ask yourself whether the propagandists whom you believe has told you these simple facts:
- That out of 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the trouble involves only 5 districts: Srinagar, Ananthnag, Baramullah, Kulgam and Pulwama;
- That the residents of other 17 districts, unlike a few secessionists in these five districts, are completely pro-Indian;
- That the population of these five districts is less than 15 per cent of the entire Jammu and Kashmir state. Obviously a far lower number must be the ones who are "secessionists";
- It ought to surprise you that there are more than 14 major religious/ethnic groups comprising 85 per cent of the Jammu and Kashmir population who are pro-India. These include Shias, Dogras (Rajputs, Brahmins, Mahajans), Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Buddhists (Ladakhis), Gujjars, Bakarwals, Paharis, Baltis, Christians and many more;
- The total number of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir state are 69 per cent of the population--and since only a handful are involved, it ought to give one the idea that not everyone is looking for "secession," or "azaadi";
- That Shias (12 per cent), Gujjars Muslims (14 percent), Pahari Muslims (8 per cent), Buddhists, Pandits, Sufis, Christians and Jammu Hindus/Dogras (approx. 45 per cent) are totally opposed to separatism and Pakistan;
- That out of a total population of 1.25 crores, the majority do not speak Kashmiri as their mother tongue. Their mother tongue is Dogri, Gujjari, Punjabi, Ladhaki and Pahari;
- This "Kashmiriyat" narrative by propagandists would make better sense if one was told that almost 85 percent area of Jammu and Kashmir state are not Muslim majority. The area-wise division of Jammu and Kashmir is: Kashmir 15 %, Jammu 26% and Ladakh 59%;
- That only a small number in Kashmir speak Kashmiri and this group controls the narrative from business to bureaucracy to agriculture; from Hurriyat to militants; from National Conference to PDP; from media houses to think-tanks in Delhi--and the foreign forces who want a weak India;
- That stone-pelting, hoisting of Pakistani flags and anti-India demonstrations are held in just 5 districts in Kashmir valley. The other 17 districts have never participated in such activities;
- Poonch and Kargil have over a 90 per cent Muslim population. There has never been an anti-India or separatist protest in these districts.
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