Elections: A cacophony of muddled narratives

Jamaat in the fray. Prisoners contesting. New faces. Old parties. Independent candidates (who seem to be more dependent than independent) filing nominations. Amme Kak. Gulle Kak. Nabbe Kak. You just name. Their manifestoes strike us like restaurant menus: Chicken fry, roasted chicken, tandoori, daal makhani, mutton curry, palak paneer, kanti kabaab, shawarma. “Aap kya lenge, sir,” contestants seem like begging. And their downgraded manifestoes dished out thus: Statehood. Article 370. Honour. Dignity. This. That. They. Us. Oppression. Corruption. Manifestoes that hitherto came our way have become outmoded. Expired. The yogurt (read narrative) served to us is turning bad by over fermentation.

The condition is wholly confounding. It’s becoming cacophonous for those who want to make an informed choice. But information seems to be impossible in this cacophony. We seem to be encountering ‘Maya jaal’, an illusion enveloping the true nature of things. In this situation, naturally, you don’t feel like making a choice. But do we have the choice of not making any choice? We have tried not choosing for decades. And here we are now. Disempowered. Disenfranchised. Disillusioned.

The present condition of a muddled narrative foregrounding the assembly elections in Kashmir is a symptom of sustained self-imposed disfranchisement and disempowerment. When people for decades were made to search the skies for an invisible crescent (hilaal), and not allowed to operate on the ground (read political ground), the present impasse became inevitable. This is a good example of learned helplessness.

We won’t do anything, then when things turn bad, we keep sulking about why things have turned up this way. This learned helplessness has led us to where we are today. We have developed a habit of closing our eyes to the reality staring at us. We are fearful of throwing our eyes open. We have even tried thrusting our heads in the sand to keep ourselves from confronting reality. We also seem to have caught a habit of feigning ignorance. We have become good at wishful thinking. We want to manifest by mere visualizing.

This work-shy visualization has made us drunk too. We were made to pursue the invisible by closing our eyes on the visible. We not only ignored but even despised the visible, and still tend to do it. We were, and still are, happy living in a fool’s paradise, and then emphatically claiming in a drugged state: Koeshur gov balaie (we Kashmiris are terrific). People who have been driven like dumb cattle all the time are no kingpins. People who are susceptible to emotional tampering cannot claim to have agency. People who allow themselves to be brainwashed time and again cannot come out of submergence.

Now when the ground that we stood on began to shake, the drugged people were jerked awake, reluctantly figuring out what was happening through the crack of their eyes. To unwillingly pull our heads out of the sand and find ourselves in a hangover of the invisible paradise, many of us, out of our hangover, wish to sleep again. But this shour & tamasha (sound and fury) may not allow them to doze off again. Now we are witnessing some people in all frenzy trying to reclaim the lost ground (the political ground). “Dubte hue ko tinke ka sahara” explains this frenzy. By all standards, this is a normal behaviour. Isn’t it? What we see around us is the reflection of the same frenzy when we wake up from our sleep feeling the tremors of a ground-shaking earthquake. You jump out unthinkingly and run hither and thither.

This election cacophony mirrors the same situation. You are urgently trying to gather yourself, rubbing your eyes, and you watch everyone hysterically trying their best to reclaim the ground or at worst wrestling to grab an opportunity. You may not agree with the way some people are responding. They feel they can do something, you feel you can’t. This is normal.

Don’t be surprised if we see all of them in the fray. Some with their kith and kin. Some, who had been singing odes, and showing us invisible Hilaal in the skies, just a few years before, are finding their Hilaal rising on the other side. I again believe this is normal. Course correction should always be an option. Previously they made people endlessly wait for the Godot. Even painting things in the binary of black and white: halaal-o-haram.

Hopelessness was bound to set in with time. In this acquired hopelessness and helplessness some people are not able to grasp what is going on. Their optical lens does not seem to work and adjust in the present circumstances. Having passionately visualised blindfolded, rightly or wrongly, for years they have lost the ability to confront the ground reality. Their passions have gone dim now. They feel that keeping their eyes shut is the solution. ‘De gosh the better’ (better feign ignorance). It gives them the impression of false safety because waking up to this new reality is unacceptable given their hangover.

Where to go from here? This is a major question. Have your eyes closed and keep seeking the invisible Hilaal in the skies or try figuring and engaging with the reality. To keep living in a fool’s paradise is easy. It won’t change anything. To wake up and take action is courageous. It is to become a part of the process. The process that was mistakenly denigrated and despised. Now is the time to restore its credibility and use it to your advantage. No matter how dusty the atmosphere, or how muddled the narrative is, just have your eyes open, and take a step forward. Do not look habitually upwards in the sky, you have done enough of it. Now is the time to hold your ground, look ahead, and do your bit.

You need to figure out and walk your way. You need to reclaim your lost ground by participating in the process. You may have trust issues. It is normal. Not everyone out there you can trust. Not everyone out there you are supposed to love. You are not here to love them, their faces, or their lineage or whatever. But do not hate them either. Keep in mind, if you do politics of loving and hating faces, you are getting it wrong. You are here to search for ideas that resonate with you and how you could contribute to it.

The results may not be always as you expect. But this is how it is for now. You can’t choose to blindfold yourself again. The present circumstances don’t provide you with this privilege. You need to use your wit and mind to tear through the confounding narrative. You keep using the epithet: ‘Koeshur gov balaie’. If you truly are that gem of a mind, now is the time to prove it!