[Originally posted as comment on this excellent article by greatbong]
You know what riles me most is this Kashmir vs. “rest of India” dichotomy as if “rest of India” is a monochromatic, monotonous monolith. What idiots in media such as Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose don’t get is that Marathis, Bengalis, Telugus, Oriyas all have history as rich as Kashmiris (if anything richer) and all are as proud of the fact as anyone. Idea of India is not something which belongs to Lutyen’s Delhi, or to air-conditioned newsrooms where pretty young things read breaking news in their precious accent. Idea of India is also the essence behind the Indic civilization, the essence which pervades its congested cities and dusty country sides, its desultory summers and its intoxicating monsoons; it is the idea which unites its various histories, its people, past, present and future. It is not some single hegemonic construct but a spirit unique to Indian experience best exemplified by Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
It really breaks my heart to see no one among our “intellectuals” has the cojones to call this Azaadi nonsense for what it is, a Islamist movement to obliterate the kaffir past and unambiguously belong to the community of faithful i.e. Ummah.
