Page 63 - English Tehelka Issue 3&4

Book review

Unmasking Kashmir: approach ironically brackets even “But what about the curses of that nalist and editor Masood Hussain in

those who are part of the establish- “outsider” to J&K? Are you sure the his review of the book.
ment with the separatists, one of present problems are only commu-
Another review written by one
An outsider’s revenge them a former Chief Secretary of the nal, i.e. how can the Muslims in J&K Shama Jahangir was titled ‘Unmask-
state who is said to have been hosting live with a Hindu India? Or instigated ing Kashmir unmasks Sonali’. Simi-
Hurriyat leaders at his home and as a by Pakistan? Or because of the Kash- larly, former bureaucrat Irfan Yasin
miri’s genuine desire to separate in his Facebook post recalls Kumar as
result forced to resign.
She largely sees the struggle in from India?,” Kumar questions. “an arrogant and self-centred person
Kashmir aroused by the hate against She continues at another place: with a false sense of superiority”.
An IAS officer who has spent 37 years in Kashmir writes a memoir that largely sees the New Delhi, pure and simple, and not “My heart sank when I heard the “She never tried to identify with
struggle in the Valley aroused by hate against New Delhi. It does not even distantly necessarily deriving from any his- word outsider for the first time. How the state or its problems and has
torical wrongs. Her narrative on the could I be an outsider in my own been part of these insider outsider
acknowledge the possible case of a genuine grievance in Kashmir, making it part of the state doesn’t even distantly acknowl- country? I was an Indian first and presumed sentiments to the extent
dominant vilification campaign against the state in India today, RIYAZ WANI writes edge the possible case of a genu - then anything else. Little did I realise of being stupid,” Yasin writes.
ine grievance in Kashmir, a serious then that the entire Kashmir prob- One of the interesting anecdotes
omission that makes the memoir a lem was because of the apartheid that Kumar reveals in her book and
memoir by a former the State Government, can neither Maharaja’s Hindu advisors primar- witting or unwitting part of the vili- regime that existed. That regime which has earned it attention in
IAS officer normally vote in nor stand for any state-level ily to keep other Hindus of India out fication campaign launched against which divided humanity into two: media is about her removal from
has fewer reasons to elections even after retirement, can’t of J&K,’ writes Kumar. “And the same the state by sections of national insiders and outsiders”. the post of principal resident com-
be contentious. But even get her son married to a local law is now coming in handy for Kash- media, particularly by some tel - Observations like these have elic- missioner J&K House, New Delhi, for
there is every reason girl because that will immediately miri Muslims to keep everyone else evision channels. The omission also ited hostile reactions in Kashmir. allegedly not serving biryani to a
A it to be so if the extinguish that girl’s state-subject out!”. makes the book a part of the domi- The reviews in local newspapers visiting delegation. That might be so
for
bureaucrat happens to have been status,” and so on. But in Kashmir Kumar’s grouse nant ideological narrative on the and comments in social media have but biryani is not the food of Mus-
posted in Kashmir and the memoir She blames the law passed by the hits a raw nerve. It is seen less as a state in India today. been trenchantly critical of Kumar. lims of Kashmir as Kumar seems
touches upon a range of sensitive Maharaja of J&K in 1927 for this. But former IAS officer’s account of her “What I represented, which in my “Apparently, the idea is to add to the to suggest and gain sympathy as a
issues which also have fraught politi- personal experience or that of her Sari and Bindi attire meant “Indian- narrative that rightwing parties have consequence. Kashmiri Muslim’s
cal overtones. ‘Unmasking Kashmir’ by tribe and more as yet another voice ness,” she writes. And this ‘Indian- developed in last few years within favourite dish is rather Wazwan.
retired IAS officer Sonali Kumar is Apart from in support of the perceived effort to ness’, she facilely concludes, makes and outside the courtrooms. It is de- Nor is Secretariat two kilometres
one such memoir. associating biryani dilute the state’s special constitution- her an “outsider” in J&K. In fact, the mography in question and the quest from Batamaloo. Or the Secretar-
The 256 page book is a top “outsid- al position guaranteed under Article theme of an outsider runs through for larger integration that is talked iat four kilometres from Nedous
er” bureaucrat’s account of Kashmir, with people whose 370. In popular perception such a the narrative. about,” writes noted Kashmiri jour- hotel. This is the distance she claims
the first of its nature. Another first to traditional food is dilution is understood as a thinly- to have been walking (“yes walk-
its credit is that Kumar is a woman veiled design to alter the state’s ing”, to borrow her phrase) during
and she has something to say about not biryani, perhaps demography. her early days of posting to the state.
alleged gender discrimination in the to attract easy In Kumar’s narration, however, Both distances are less than half
state too. there are hardly any nods to this a kilometre.
But her general sounding revela- media attention, inherent complicacy of the situa- There are many other details
tions about harassment of women she has been tion. On the contrary, she chooses to which are factually incorrect: For
pale in comparison to her account of foreground an outsider IAS officer’s example, one of the Chief Ministers
how the state treats its bureaucrats careless with even predicament in the state, to the point of Kashmir, according to her, was
from other parts of India. This has of either trivializing the overarch- Ghulam Shah when it was Ghulam
become a subject of bitter debate in basic details about ing political issues facing the state Mohammad Shah. Or when she
the state. Though the account talks Kashmir or treating them as secondary to writes that bureaucrat B R Kundal
about the unique problems faced by her plight. resigned as Chief Secretary and
‘outsider’ IAS officers, it invariably The book shows Kumar invariably ‘Unmasking became a minister which is also
runs up against the fraught political in the state this law is directly con- bitter about her thirty-six-and-a-half kashmir: a incorrect. At a time when associ -
and historical questions which make nected to Article 35A, the consti - years of service in Kashmir. But it is BUreaUcrat ating biryani with people whose
the state so extraordinarily troubled tutional provision extended to the the ‘us-versus-them’ trope under- reveals’ traditional food is not biryani can
in the first place. state by the President of India in 1954 pinning her telling that is deeply by sonali kumar gain you easy media attention and
Kumar laments that IAS offic - which enables the state government troubling; it is simplistic in that it manas Publications some public praise to boot, you can
ers from outside the state “can’t buy to define state subjects and forbid evacuates the situation in the state 256 pages; 695 afford to be careless with even basic
property, can’t educate her children outsiders from settling in the state. of its political and historical con - details about the state where you
in any technical — medical or engi- This law currently faces a tough chal- text. Kumar gratuitously sets herself have spent 37 years of your career.
neering college, can’t get her spouse lenge in the Supreme Court. up as a defender of India’s integrity
or children to find employment with “The law (in 1927) was enacted by against anti-national Kashmiris. This letters@tehelka.com

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62-63 Book Review Riyaz.indd 2-3 12/02/18 4:00 PM