Red Cheeks and Not So Red Cheeks Respond to Kashmir TV Debate

SRINAGAR— On 3rd June, an Indian TV news channel hosted a prime time debate that revolved around the NIA searches being conducted on various separatist leaders and businessmen, who the anchor called ‘sold-out pro-Pakistan elements of Kashmir’.

The anchor began the show by making a suggestion to the Home Minister and Prime Minister that the country must instill an Indian version of the Guantanamo Bay in Kashmir. 

One of the analysts on the show vehemently agreed with the anchor. He went on to add that he is surprised that despite the sorry state of the land, Kashmiris still look healthy with ‘laal laal gulabi’ (Red & pink) cheeks. He also questioned why there were no malnourished children and why no farmers were committing suicide in Kashmir.

Few minutes after the show was aired the internet erupted. Many Kashmiris and netizens from across India were responding to the show through satirical, cynical comments. But apart from the humor that rose out of this debate, the comments on the show also instigated a myriad of emotional thoughts on the entire national discourse being constructed around Kashmir.

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‘‘Honestly, when I first watched the video I laughed for so long. But then I watched it a second time and I realised how frustrated Indians are (Indians being the pseudo nationalists). So frustrated that they ask for a Guantanamo style prison made for Kashmiris who just happen to be more well off and  prosperous than the rest of India inspite of all that’s been happening in the State. It almost feels like the situation of poverty, weaknesses and dependency which they’re trying to create here for so long just isn’t happening and they’re jealous.”

Shah Iflah, a young student studying Political Science said, ‘‘Honestly, when I first watched the video I laughed for so long. But then I watched it a second time and I realised how frustrated Indians are (Indians being the pseudo nationalists). So frustrated that they ask for a Guantanamo style prison made for Kashmiris who just happen to be more well off and  prosperous than the rest of India inspite of all that’s been happening in the State. It almost feels like the situation of poverty, weaknesses and dependency which they’re trying to create here for so long just isn’t happening and they’re jealous.”

Imran Bashir, an MBA student at Central University of Kashmir said, “Among my friends we joke about the state of Indian media. We can’t take it seriously. But then again, I wonder if the situation of Kashmir would have been better if the media did a better job of reporting. On this show the journalist and his friends simply made a mockery of themselves”

On the other hand, Aarthi Murali, a Communication student of  Mount Carmel College, Bangalore said “It took all the trolls that came up later to convince me that I must maybe mock at and laugh off this whole episode. But it didn’t feel that simple when I first watched it. The journalist and the analyst’s language in the episode made me feel sick about how sure they were. What were they so sure of? and what exactly did they want to convince me of? Firstly, how do I believe any of this when they give it to me as mere statements – I am confused. I am at no place to make a true claim, and I’m simply not be convinced by this apparent ‘simplicity’ of it all.”

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When the Kashmiri representative on the panel laughed at the comments, she was condemned by the anchor for not understanding the depth of their metaphors. Giving it a benefit of doubt, I asked political analyst Gowhar Geelani if there was any depth at all to this rhetoric. He responded by saying, “Is the anchor suggesting that we should repeat an experiment that all human rights activists and people of the world have condemned? It is an open torture threat. That’s the only depth to this argument. In fact, I believe that this whole conversation is part of the processes that aids in the ‘Otherization’ of Kashmir”. In a post-truth/post-fact era, Geelani believes that such comments are all part of a propaganda building activity. “Give a dog a bad name and kill it. Repeat a lie thousand times and it becomes truth. Such anchors are merely stenographers of the Government and spokespersons of the army”

For Shahnaz Bashir, professor at Central University of Kashmir  and author of award-winning novel ‘Half Mother’ Kashmir is already an Indian version of a Guantanamo Bay. “In fact, it is referred to as the biggest jail one can be in. How can you say what happened in the Guantanamo Bay didn’t already happen here? The Indian State has left no stone un-turned to make this a reality. It is quite simple, what was done to India by General Dyer is being done to us by India”. Bashir believes that, as soon as a  State begins to endorse the act of holding someone hostage as a human shield and reward it, it merely marks the end of any rational and logical argument.

When asked if such debates mark any change in the narrative of the Kashmir  conversation, Bashir says, “Yes, there is definitely a change. Indian media is finally on some kind of acceptance mode that, ‘Yes, there is a problem in Kashmir.’ But then they simply cannot accept that here is a population that is opposite to them. Such channels will never let Kashmiris even speak. Kashmir’s presence on the panel is merely to legitimize the ‘equality’ in the debate. But the people here are resisting all of this in their own unique ways. Our songs, art, paintings, books, music theater are soaked with demands for freedom and some day this side will also be heard. I believe that our voices are far more mature and will not die easily”

Muzamil Jaleel, deputy editor of a leading national daily doesn’t agree that there is any acceptance mode. “The debate was simply hurtful and evokes such extreme feelings. How are the youth of Kashmir supposed to feel when they watch their people constantly get collectively abused on national television every evening? Anything that makes you more angry can do no good. The language used on the show was so bigoted and indecent, you just cannot talk about a people like that. This has crossed all levels of decency and I will not accept it in anyway.”

Dr.Ashley Tellis, a researcher and LGBT activist currently based out of Bangalore, claims that there is a gross sexual harp in this entire discussion that happened. “The Indian State’s resentment has finally openly got sexual. Although, this is not new. Bashart Peer in his book ‘Curfewed Night’ makes a reference to the same. And please let’s stop calling this anchor as journalist. He is merely an entertainer.”

Bhat Iqbal, a researcher at Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at JNU has spent considerable amount of time with local famers and tribal communities in Kashmir. When asked about the comments made on lack of farmer suicides in J&K, Iqbal said, “J&K has the one of the best land reforms in the country. We have a good Land Ceiling Act in place and there are no landless farmers. We do not have irrigation problems either. The Valley itself is largely self-sufficient in terms of food. Even during a hartal a Kashmiri farmer works on his field. Hence, you cannot compare Kashmir to UP or Punjab. I don’t understand what hartals have to do with our crops or farmers. Instead, Kashmir has the largest number of people affected by PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression. Why is this not being addressed? UP, Punjab or Bihar don’t have it, do they? Why are we not talking about this?”

The young MBA student Imran Bashir from Central University says that the Valley has been through and made it out of the worst periods flood and militancy. “In any other part of the country, if there is a curfew even for a day or two people come out for food. In Kashmir we are used to stockpiling food, as people have grown up in conflict and lone road to mainland India remains blocked most of the time in winters. We can go on for months without having to struggle for food.”

Ravikant Kisana, film theorist and professor at FLAME University, Pune says, “The respected anchor ji’s comments are very timely and I agree with them with one small exception. Instead of Kashmiris, his views on dispossessing and stripping tax evaders should be applied to the corporate giants. Let corrupt tycoons heading tax evading corporations be placed in these “Indian Guantanamos”. Their crimes against the Indian nation are much graver than a stone pelter in Kashmir. To publicly demand the creation of “Indian Guantanamos” is so outrageously out of line for a news anchor to say, that one does feel a bit of pathos for the folly wherein he’s ramping up his rhetoric to please his backers while simultaneously shredding the last vestiges of any professional pride that could come with being in his position. The respected anchor ji is in the middle of a spectacular transformation on live television– the portrait of the craftsman, formerly a newsman, now morphing into a full time jester. Long may he be loud. As for the analyst, I won’t focus on the borderline racism of his “red cheeks” comment. It betrays his contempt and disgust for the Kashmiri people. But more than his contempt, I am very worried about his lack of understanding in the matters of basic economics. He needs a crash course in political economy & land issues if he wants to understand farmer suicides and malnutrition deaths.”

Zaffar Iqbal, correspondent for a popular Delhi based news channel dismisses the remarks saying “As a journalist myself, I’m amazed at how some of them can stoop to such low levels in their chase for TRP’s”

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah echoes the same by saying that such comments simply betray a basic understanding of J&K’s economic history. “I don’t watch such TV news itself. But one thing that the people must understand is that we have the lowest level of poverty and some of the best land reforms in place. Our farmers are land owners, not tenant farmers. And this has nothing to do with Pakistan. When I heard about this debate I laughed it off.”

When asked about the rest of the nation that is not laughing at this but giving it a thought, Mr.Abdullah said that these discussions, simply because of how ridiculous they are, are hopefully making non-Kashmiris also go beyond these channels to find out the real facts of Kashmir. Omar Abdullah concluded by saying, “These are alien, flippant comments that deserve to be treated with complete disdain.”

In such ‘tu-tu mein-mein’ discussions, it seems important to draw oneself back to the voices upon whom such conversations are actually thrust upon. Here, it affects not just the ones accused of ‘seditious’ looks but also the ones who seem to comply with the ‘acceptable nationalist aesthetics’.

Shah Iflah says that such comments can only arise from  a people obsessed with fairness who just can’t accept that Kashmiris are fair. Imran Bashir, urges these kind of journalists to come live in Kashmir for some time and find out why Kashmirs actually have red cheeks. 

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“I feel afraid when I watch this with my family who seem to have figured a way to draw a simple parallel between ‘their cheeks are red’ and ‘where did they get the money from?’ In case I chuckle, the way the Kashmiri representative on the channel did, then will I be told that the his comments are a ‘deep’ reality?” 

Aarthi Murali, no longer finds it funny. “I feel afraid when I watch this with my family who seem to have figured a way to draw a simple parallel between ‘their cheeks are red’ and ‘where did they get the money from?’ In case I chuckle, the way the Kashmiri representative on the channel did, then will I be told that his comments are a ‘deep’ reality?” 

One can start to observe a pattern emerging in the way Kashmiri representatives express themselves on National media. There is the Kashmiri who is either enraged or the Kashmiri who is laughing. On this particular debate the Kashmiri representative chuckled at the comments made by the analyst and the anchor. Shahnaz Bashir responds to this by saying “Sometimes these non-verbal gestures represent our reactions better than words. When Kashmiri representative laughed, it was symbolic of the entire Valley’s response to that discussion”.

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