This Unquiet Land: Stories from India's Fault Lines

by Barkha Dutt

  Not just because of those within the BJP who repeatedly qualified their criticism with ifs and buts—making an apology sound like an assault—but also because some moments in a country’s history become an emblematic test of a larger truth. It happened during the anti-corruption crusade led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal; it happened after the Delhi gang rape and it has happened after Dadri.

  I asked Sanjeev Balyan, a minister in the Modi government from western Uttar Pradesh, who was also implicated in the Muzaffarnagar riots, why the prime minister did not just pick up the phone and have a private conversation with Sartaj if he did not want to make a comment in public. ‘If the PM starts calling every such family that is a victim of a crime, he will be on the phone 24/7 and not be able to function as prime minister.’ Balyan had missed the writing on the wall; Dadri had become much more than an isolated, single incident. It posed a fundamental dare to the government; could Narendra Modi truly move beyond the limitations of his own election campaign? Opposition leaders were citing the many times Modi had brought up the ‘pink revolution’ in the election speeches of 2014—a reference to the rising export of buffalo meat. Could he leave that sort of rhetoric firmly in the past? Could he—would he—become a statesman, a leader ready to provide emotional succour?

  For several days after the Dadri tragedy there was no comment from Modi. When the prime minister finally did speak—at an election rally in Bihar—he called for Hindus and Muslims to fight poverty instead of each other. A perfectly decent formulation in itself, except for the fact that he did not mention Dadri or the lynching or Mohammad Akhlaq by name. He called upon Indians to follow President Pranab Mukherjee’s message, who had that same week reminded Indians that our core values are of pluralism and diversity. But Modi’s message was general and not particular. And, in the same speech before he delivered his homily, he used the beef motif to taunt Lalu Yadav. Modi accused him of insulting his own community of Yadavs or Yaduvanshis—traditionally a community of cowherds. (Lalu had said some Hindus eat gau maas, but hastily retracted the comment.)

  A few days later, Modi gave another brief comment to a journalist. The lynching, he said, finally addressing it directly, was ‘very sad and unacceptable’, but ‘what does it have to do with the centre?’ he demanded to know. It was only after a spate of television assaults on visiting Pakistanis by its ally, the Shiv Sena, that Arun Jaitley came forward to say the prime minister disapproved and disagreed with this ‘disturbing trend’ and believed that India should ‘engage in debate, not vandalism’.

  So far, the BJP had argued that the killings had taken place in states where it was not in power. But in Jammu and Kashmir, where Zahid (and his friend Showkat, both truck drivers) had been assaulted with petrol bombs in the Udhampur region, the BJP was one half of the ruling coalition.

  Zahid, whose truck was set on fire by the mob, died in a hospital in Delhi, succumbing to grave burn injuries. Within hours of his death, the Valley erupted in street clashes between police and protesters. In the assembly an independent MLA, Engineer Rashid, was beaten up by a BJP lawmaker for hosting an inflammatory beef party. When he came to Delhi with the relatives of Zahid and Showkat to demand justice for them, his face was smeared with oil and ink by a self-styled Hindu Sena. The ink attack took place at the capital’s press club; there could no greater irony than watching the mob violence unfold at an institution meant to stand for freedom of expression. Zahid’s murder brought home how high the costs are for India. We hoped desperately—those of us who love Kashmir and worry for it—that the Valley would not erupt in violent rage.

  The murder of the young truck driver will test the sustainability of the PDP–BJP alliance. It has reopened fears in an already alienated and increasingly radicalized Kashmiri Muslim community that there are clear attempts to ‘Hindu-ize’ them. Beef is not organic to Kashmiri cuisine—I’ve never seen it cooked at the home of any Muslim friend in the Valley—but the suspicion today stems from concerns about religious and political identity. For many, it has brought back memories of the Jagmohan years. As governor, Jagmohan had attempted a temporary ban on meat during Janmashtami, provoking an unknown cleric, Qazi Nisar, to slaughter sheep at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. The worry is that similar tensions will return to haunt the state.

  All at once, India seems not just noisier, but also so much more bigoted. The shutting down of a concert by Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali, the smearing of journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face with ink because he invited a Pakistani to a book launch, the disruption of an India–Pakistan cricket meeting by the Shiv Sena in Mumbai—every day seems to start with a new headline of dissonance. Yet, far too many people with influence and clout remain silent. Will India Inc. speak up against freedom being blotted by the stains of ink attacks? Will more of Mumbai’s film stars, who have the popular appeal to lead the way, take a stand to stem the tide of hatred? Is it so difficult for us as people to speak up and protect the first principles of democracy?

  ■

  We could all learn from the dignified but strong way in which Sartaj summed up his feelings about Dadri. His words contained within them both the tragedy and the promise of our country’s future.

  ‘I just want to say a small thing and make a plea. We have all read the song, we all know the words,’ he told me. ‘Saare jahan se accha, Hindustan hamara, mazhab nahin sikhata, aapas mein bair rakhna... If we could just follow the sentiments expressed in this song, we will be fine as a country.’ The words were heartbreaking for the sheer generosity of spirit they displayed. They showed perhaps the only way in which the fault lines of this unquiet land can be mended.

  NOTES AND REFERENCES

  Unless they are in the public domain, all the incidents, conversations and interviews in the book have been witnessed or recorded by the author. In some cases, to protect her sources, the identities of interviewees or witnesses have not been disclosed or have been disguised. The page numbers and lines that the note refers to are in bold.

  INTRODUCTION

  x Kalpnath Rai, who had been accused of harbouring terrorists: Kalpnath Rai vs State (through CBI) on 6 November 1997

  x Writing about the incident in 1997: Vijay Jung Thapa, ‘Soundbite soldiers’, India Today, 15 May 1997

  xii petition in the annals of case law: Prabha Dutt vs Union Of India and Others, 7 November 1981

  xii India’s first woman war correspondent: Pamposh Raina, ‘Why Female Journalists in India Still Can’t Have It All’, India Ink, New York Times, 2 September 2013

  xiv record this conversation in his Kargil memoirs: Gen. V. P. Malik (retd), Kargil: From Surprise to Victory, New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006

  ONE

  THE PLACE OF WOMEN

  2 Dr John Hala: for more on the ‘domestic issue’ see Simran Bhargava, ‘Dirty Linen’, India Today, 28 February 1985

  4 100 million women were ‘missing’: Amartya Sen, ‘More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing’, New York Review of Books, 20 December 1990

  4 In 2006, the UN published another staggering statistic: and for Renuka Chowdhury’s remarks, see Palash Kumar, ‘India Has Killed 10 Million Girls in 20 Years’, National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, 14 December 2006

  8 Vishaka guidelines: Vishaka & Others vs State of Rajasthan & Others, 13 August 1997. These guidelines that lay down procedure to be followed in cases of sexual harassment in the workplace were promulgated by the Supreme Court in 1997 and superseded by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

  12 woman is raped every twenty-two minutes: Akshaya Mishra, ‘A rape every 22 mins: What makes us so complacent?’, Firspost.com, 12 October 2012

  14 her use of the word ‘adventurous’: ‘Sheila Dikshit’s comments draw flak’, New Delhi: The Hindu, 3 October 2008

  15 ‘Par kati mahila’: Yadav made this remark during a discussion on the women’s reservation bill. ‘Women’s Bill: Not fair for the fair sex’, Outlook, 5 May 2008
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br />   15 Interview with Hillary Clinton: May 2012

  17 woman raped at gunpoint in Kolkata’s Park Street: ‘Mamata terms rape claim of Anglo-Indian as cooked up’, Kolkata: India Today (IANS), February 2012

  18 260 candidates facing varied charges of crimes against women: ‘Analysis of candidates, MPs and MLAs who have declared crimes against women including rape’, Association for Democratic Reforms, 2012

  19 Interview with Sheelu Nishad (and Sunitha Krishnan): We the People: Rape our National Shame, NDTV air date 23 December 2012

  21 fastest growing enterprise of the twenty-first century: Judy Lin, ‘Human trafficking escalates as world economy plunges’, UCLA newsroom, 3 June 2009

  23 marital rape as a criminal offence: 167th Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing on Home Affairs on the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012.

  23 Turkey and Malaysia: ‘Marital Rape not a crime as marriage is sacred in India’, Erewise.com, 1 May 2015

  23 husband cannot be guilty: Sir Matthew Hale, History of the Pleas of the Crown, 1736

  24 Interview with Anjum and Archana: We the People: A Reason to Hope, NDTV air date 27 January 2013

  26 the first ever government survey: Dr Loveleen Kacker et al, ‘Study on Child Abuse: India 2007’, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India

  29 90 per cent of Indian women: Nita Bhalla, ‘Almost 90 percent of India’s rapes committed by people known to victim’, Reuters, 21 August 2015, http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/india-women-crime-rape-idINKCN0QQ0QS20150821

  29 sexually abusing her children: We the People: Everywoman’s Battle, NDTV air date 6 January 2013

  30 92 per cent of its villagers: ‘Baseline Survey of Minority Concentration District’, Indian Council of Social Science Research, 2008, http://www.icssr.org/Sitamarhi.pdf

  32 Why Kali Won’t Rage: Read the entire critique here: http://www.genderforum.org/issues/passages-to-india/why-kali-wont-rage/

  33 proportion of working women: Report No. 554, Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, National Sample Survey Office, January 2014

  34 female participation in the workforce: Steven Kapsos, Andrea Silberman and Evangelia Bourmpoula, ‘Why is female labour participation declining sharply in India?’, Geneva: International Labour Office, August 2014

  34 ‘much lower and with a labour force pattern not very dissimilar from that prevailing in most Islamic countries’: Surjit S. Bhalla and Ravinder Kaur, ‘Patterns in Labour Force’, Labour Force Participation of Women in India: Some facts, some queries, Asia Research Centre, London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2011

  34 self-reliance for India’s women: Vinoj Abraham, ‘Missing Labour Force or “De-Feminization” of Labour Force in India?’, Thiruvananthapuram: Centre for Development Studies, May 2014

  34 ‘sanskritization’: M. N. Srinivas, Religion and Society Among the Coorgs in Southern India, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952

  35 One of the world’s most powerful women: Caroline Howard, ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’, Forbes, 26 May 2015

  36 ‘can’t have it all’: ‘Why PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi Can’t Have It All’, The Atlantic, 1 July 2014

  36 Kirron Kher and Firuza Parikh: We the People: Women, Work and Home Truths, NDTV air date 6 July 2014

  38 Shabana Azmi and Priyanka Chopra: We the People: Everywoman’s Battle, 13 January 2013

  39 Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit: watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLbw1gieFqc

  40 woman in rural India walked an average of 173 kilometres: ‘Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India’, National Sample Survey Office, December 2013

  41 Her reminiscences about her childhood: Ismat Chughtai’s semi autobiographical work, Terhi Lakeer, translated as The Crooked Line, New Delhi: Kali for Women, 2000

  42 ‘All societies on the verge’: Germaine Greer, The Madwoman’s Underclothes, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994

  TWO

  THE COST OF WAR

  45 During the Tiger Hill operation alone, 9,000 shells were used: ‘How artillery changed the tide of the Kargil war’, Economic Times, 25 July 2015

  45 ‘Such high rates of fire…in every 24-hour cycle’: Maj Gen Jagjit Singh, ‘Battle-Winning Role of the Gunners in Kargil War’, Artillery: The Battle Winning Arm, New Delhi: Lancer, 2014

  48 It lasted till January 1949: A lot had been written about the Kashmir conflict. For a brief overview see: ‘A brief history of the Kashmir conflict’, The Telegraph, 24 September 2001

  48 4,000 soldiers and officers: Sudhi Ranjan Sen, ‘For the first time, soldiers who died in 1962 Indo-China war to be honoured’, NDTV.com, 20 October 2012

  49 Indira Gandhi now bestrode: Percival Spear, The Oxford History of Modern India: 1740-1975, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978

  50 It is one of the greatest frauds: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India Wins Freedom, New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009

  50 a major operation inside Kargil: Read more here: ‘Kargil: Pakistan’s dastardly misadventure’, Business Standard, ANI, 23 July 2015

  52 Interview with Captain Vikram Batra: Kargil: The Remembrance, NDTV air date 26 July 2009. Captain Vikram Batra was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest gallantry award

  54 ‘About 10 to 15 hours’: Gen V. P. Malik (retd), ‘The Capture of Tiger Hill: A First-hand Account’, Tribune News Service, 26 July 2002

  56 Writing many years later in Force magazine: Air Chief Marshal A. Y. Tipnis (retd), Operation Safed Sagar, October 2006. http://www.forceindia.net/ACM%20Tipnis.pdf

  57 The thinking behind his Kargil folly…was now caught on tape: Excerpts of the conversation between Gen Musharraf and Lt Gen Aziz, Rediff.com, 11 June 1999

  59 ‘that guy’s from Missouri big time’: Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004

  60 ‘One way or the other, we will get them out’: Vir Sanghvi, ‘Vajpayee turns quietly assertive’, Rediff news, 17 August 1999

  60 ‘My mandate is Kargil, not Kashmir’: George Perkovich, India’s Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation, University of California Press, 2001

  61 On 2 July, Nawaz Sharif: Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2004

  62 Clinton wanted to know: Ibid

  69 ‘by denying essential equipment’: Gen V. P. Malik, Kargil: From Surprise to Victory, New Delhi: HarperCollins, 2006

  69 minimum acceptable risk level requirements: ‘Indian Army faces severe ammunition shortage, won’t sustain war for more than 20 days: CAG’, Deccan Chronicle, 9 May 2015

  70 The estimation of how many lives Pakistan lost: For Musharraf’s estimates, see his memoir, In The Line Of Fire; for Sharif’s, see his book Ghadaar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif Ki Kahani, Unki Zubani

  70 453 soldiers killed in ‘Batalik Kargil’ sector: ‘Pak Army quietly names 453 soldiers killed in Kargil War’, India Today, 18 November 2010

  THREE

  TERROR IN OUR TIME

  73 ‘heavily reliant on Pakistani sources’: Condoleezza Rice, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington, Massachusetts: Crown, 1 January 2011

  73 Operation Parakram: Rahul Singh, ‘Recalling the highs and lows of Operation Parakram’, Times of India, 15 January 2004

  75 ‘If we have to go war, jolly good’: Celia W. Dugger, ‘A Blunt-Speaking General Says India Is Ready for War’, New York Times, 11 January 2002

  75 The next day, Pervez Musharraf: ‘The general under pressure’, The Economist, 31 May 2002

  76 In 2003, Defence Minister George Fernandes told Parliament: ‘Op Parakram claimed 798 soldiers’, Times of India, 31 July 2003

  78 ‘The incongruous mixture of growth’: H. V. Savitch, Cities in a Time of Terror: Space, Territory, and Local Resilience, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2008

  79 Intervi
ew with Syed Raheem: We the People: Terror déjà vu, NDTV air date 24 February 2013

  81 use militant groups: ‘Pakistan using militants against India: US’, NDTV.com, 4 February 2010

  82 ‘third round of jihad’: Amit Baruah, ‘Militant chiefs warn Musharraf’, The Hindu, 6 February 2000

  82 ‘wounds given by…’: For the first manifesto of the IM, see: Praveen Swami, ‘Was the Indian Mujahideen made by the 2002 Gujarat riots?’, Firstpost, 23 July 2013; for its attack on the courts, see: Praveen Swami, ‘Indian Mujahideen manifestos attacked judiciary’, The Hindu, 16 September, 2011