My New Letter Series – Dear Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, Why Would You Rake Up The Past?

Truth is anyway, subjective. What one perceives as truth is not always true

March 17, 2022

Dear Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri,

Why would you make a movie about a fictitious genocide, you right-wingers call Hindu Genocide? What genocide? Daily, 200-300 people die in India, caused by violence or suicide; what’s so different about Hindus? Congress is right. If 200-300 people dying is called genocide, what would you call the Sikhs dying in 1983-84? Wait, they didn’t say that? Oh my bad, I thought they said that.

But to be fair, Vivek Ji, Kashmir belongs to the Muslims, and the Hindus should’ve realized it. Didn’t an Islamic go to Rishi Kashyap and tell him to leave, as the place belonged to him? The Pandits (from the INC, not to be mistaken for Kashmiri Pandits), the followers of Pandit Nehru (again, no Kashmiri Pandit) said so, if not in words, at least in action. They know this, not the so-called “Kashmiris Pandits” and the rest of India. Anyways, like my idol, Burqa Dutt, said, “the Muslim community revolted against the land-owning Hindus, who were rich and controlled the local economy. It was not about communities but about economics”! Bravo, Burqa! That’s telling ‘em! This is the argument that would have made what Hitler did to the Jewish communities, legitimate!! Wait, that was the argument!!! RIGHT!! Well, no problem, I’m sure Hitler’s dead and no one’s going to be stupid enough to claim that phrase!! Wait, let’s back up and make that “no one’s going to be courageous enough”.

Is this a pre-cursor to settling those Hindus back in Kashmir? Why would you want to do that? We have peace in Kashmir. People are so happy with the way Kashmir is now. Ok, so old Farooq said, he’d welcome the Hindus back into the valley. I don’t think he meant that literally! He was trying to be nice, just to get into the good books of the current central government. For cryin’ out loud, I always say, “nice to see you” even when I hate the person!! Does that mean I liked meeting the other hateful person? NO!! Anyways, I digress! Farooq meant that he’d welcome them back if ever he met them in Delhi, or Mumbai or Bengaluru. NOT IN SRINAGAR!! That well-educated minister from India’s western neighbor, Sheikh Rasheed, says “Srinagar mein Ghainti nahi goonjengi” (No bell will ring in the temples in Srinagar). Try giving it a Punjabi tang when saying that. There you go, you’ve mastered it.

My other friend, from across the border, the Prime Minister of the most peaceful country in the world, Immi, knows that there’s a demographic change that’s happening now. He’s absolutely right! How can one make Kashmir, the hub of Islam, a home for Hindus? I don’t believe goddess Sharada would want to displace the living with those that betrayed Kashmir. I am talking about those Hindus that decided to go and settle in other places in India. Those that stayed back, are welcome to leave; don’t tell me those that left should be welcomed back! Why? They left.

Now to come back and start buying up the land in Kashmir, making it incredibly high-priced, isn’t fair! We have most locals (I hate calling them Muslims; they’re human beings) struggling to make ends meet (especially after Acts 370 and 35A were abrogated); they used to be able to earn 500 to 1000 INR a day (throwing stones at army vehicles or at Hindu houses). Now they’re left to fend for themselves. If they lift a stone, they’re immediately brought down or worse, sent to their maker! Isn’t that against all humane behavior? Our constitution has allowed them to find suitable employment!

Nowhere in the Constitution does it state that they can’t throw stones, as a form of employment! Show me one place it says and I will shave my head!! Wait, scratch that! I have already shaved my head. It really feels comfortable and I don’t have a problem with waking up in the morning and looking at my face to make sure the hair is in place, and my wife likes the way I look! Sorry, I digressed again! What was I saying? Oh yeah, throwing stones! People living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones! No? That’s not what I was saying?

Let me go back and take a look. OH YEAH!! Got it, so as I was saying, who are we to decide what employment is worthy of our money or isn’t? If people can visit Thailand, after being elected MP from Kerala, why can’t one pick up an innocent stone and throw it aside? It’s not that person’s fault that a car came in between the person and the sidewalk!! Or a human being came between the innocent person and the sidewalk! Who are we to stop people from throwing petrol on the ground; it’s not their fault that the ground they’re throwing petrol on, is inside a temple!!

Vivek Ji, we need to be all-inclusive! We need to modify your movie and show it as one where Hindus spread terror on the poor Islamic rebels, making them revolt against the Hindu population. This way, we’ll be able to show a humane side to the rebels as well as show the Kashmiri Hindu genocide. So what if the message is skewed? Is national integrity important or is the truth important? Pandit Nehru had to make these calls quite a few times and chose the high path: one of national integrity rather than truth. Truth is anyway, subjective. What one perceives as truth is not always true. Damn, I’m becoming philosophical, and that’s so against my personality.

So Vivek Ji what next? Make a movie on the Massacre Of The Sikhs, and call it The Amritsar Files, in keeping with your past movies, “Tashkent Files” and “Kashmir Files”?

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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