HINDSIGHT ROHIT SINGH RANA Will Zubin Mehta concert ever happen in Jammu? The melody of Abhay Rustum Sopori was the start of a great musical extravaganza. It was a curtain raiser with first lines of touching Kashmiri songs. Then followed Zubin Mehta and the result in the perfect Shalamar setting looked as if a thin haze of musical notes wafted in the air. Very few among the audience must have understood the import of his music. Few in the front lines were shuffling, perhaps lost in their own ways between Eahasas and Hakeekat. Yet despite all the disparaging noises the concert happened. Three hundred Kilometers from the pristine settings of Shalamar Garden, many in Jammu too watched the concert live on their television sets. Consider the response by Jammu to the concert especially when the separatists went all over to protest against it. Full silence no statements, especially by the literary organizations in Jammu who otherwise boast for promoting Jammu or national sentiment. There ought to have been a big protest demonstration in the City of Temples against those who opposed the Zubin concert in Kashmir and that demonstration should have been taken out by intellectuals, university students and men of letters along with all political parties? But nothing happened. Back in the valley when the concert ended, Zubin Mehta said that next time he would like to perform for the people of Kashmir. There is a perception in the world that Kashmir means Kashmir and Jammu & Kashmir too means Kashmir. In this backdrop, it is vital to brood and ponder over this harsh reality. Will the Jammuites countenance to this situation is not difficult to guess. For all practical purposes Jammu is treated as a backyard of Kashmir, which needs some cursory care while all primary and secondary attention goes to those who live in the valley. Forget all the secular credentials that the people on this side of Pir panchal have upheld. Disregard the good will that the people of Jammu have displayed for all displaced persons whether they belonged to the valley or to the areas of Doda and kishtwar, such things do not count in a race for political, social and economic dominance. In political calculations this does not get registered anywhere. The tolerance of Jammu is not a mirage like the kashmiriat but a visible reality. But who cares although the representatives of two mainstream (Kashmir centric) parties parrot repeatedly about their promise to bring parity in the allocation of funds and other economic activities between Jammu and Kashmir. The political representation larger and genuine for the Jammu remains in suspended animation till 2033 when a review will be made on delimitation. A negative political haze hangs around Jammu. With Kashmir centric parties chalking out plans to undermine Jammu’s collective strength by slowly working out a plan to address a particular community in so called Chenab Valley, Poonch and Rajouri. Here the separatists too are testing their nefarious activities by trying to woo some support to their cause. A larger game plan of Greater Kashmir very slowly is unfolding designed to engulf and weaken the popular nationalist sentiment in the region. Wonder why thousands of Jammu businessmen do not have their summer homes in Srinagar so that they with their families could enjoy Kashmir. Reasons are not difficult to guess, they are there evident and obvious. Jammu too has its scenic, spots, it also has meandering rivers and beautiful valleys but they stand forlorn and covered under a thick curtain of political apathy. Despite its Karan Singhs, Bhallas, Ranas, Sharmas, Sarooris, Azads and host of other political and military generals will Zubin Mehta ever perform in Jammu city? He might have not heard the name of Jammu notwithstanding his plane flew to Kashmir over a large swathe or territory that belongs to land called Jammu. Unfortunately it is the painful certainty which will perhaps hang about if Jammu does not collectively rise for its due share.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 14:57:23 +0000