J&K Bank: In, and As Context

Money is a grand myth capitalism immerses into complex mathematics conjuring up a ghost called modern economy; a meta-narrative of our times. We stand terror stricken before the numbers, the terms, and the Byzantine postulates of this new pantheon of coins, papers, bonds, shares and imaginary figures. But that is not all that is to the modern banking. A poetic idealism, or a sanctified utopia is good,  but only sometimes, and in some measure. What is real cannot be discounted. A carapaced cynicism takes us away from what is actually desired. You like it or not, modern banking is at the heart of all our commercial transactions. Banks determine our lives. And there is a bank called J&K Bank that  governs our financial well being. Even if you dislike banking, Leftwise or Otherwise, J&K Bank is still a concern.

Financial experts and experienced bankers can spell out better what it means putting this bank as PSU, but for a commoner it can better be understood in terms of Agency and Ownership. This Bank is not targeted for its economic mismanagement, or administrative lapses. What matters is the politics that it holds. They want to walk off with this chest that carries some living fibres of our worn out political muscle. It’s not about the Bank, it’s about J&K. That brings the matter to home. For a citizen of Kashmir it’s part of overall neighbourhood. It’s an inheritance.

We inherited much from this mulk that was ours. We squandered off much of it, falling headlong into privation. If there is anything we should be protesting against, it is inside and insider.  The recent decision taken about the J&K Bank reflects a deeper rot. It’s not a solitary thing; there is much that has happened before, and is to happen now. And in this long chain of ugly enterprise we have provided vital links.

Now that we are well into the inglorious belly of the beast, we cry exit. Somebody can turn back and say, look who’s speaking. We don’t even have the leaves to hide our shame. It is not to smear blame into someone’s face, but to express the bitterness that such occasions bring to fore. After all why are we getting disrobed, layer after layer. I surrender a layer in the hope that the rest of the layers will be mine till eternity. Then comes another, takes off another layer. Then another, and then another. And here we are, stripped bare. The decisions taken about the Bank, if a commoner has to understand it, is another scene of disrobing  amidst the baying of  jackals.

For all its shortcomings, and episodic irregularities, J&K Bank is a living financial  institution. It follows universal financial principles, and does business in the larger pool of commerce that exists outside and beyond this Bank. It is not an underground organisation, that can be penalised just for it being there. But unfortunately an impression is given out as if for Kashmiris  this is  the Bank of Mum and Dad. The Bank has finally been nudged into the vortex of  the larger perception that any strength that Kashmiris have is a weakness of the state that in the end controls Kashmir. If we don’t salvage our institutions from this perception, we will lose them all one by one, if we haven’t lost them all already. That is immediate.

The recent decision about the J&K Bank must be seen in the context of our overall emaciation of our politics and society. The conversation between Sheikh M Abdullah, M G Ramachandran, and Jyoti Basu quoted by Haseeb Drabu is poignant. The one who narrates it for us now, makes it more piteous;  Here he goes:

“It was February 10th, 1978, the “federalist” Chief Ministers — M G Ramachandran, Jyoti Basu and Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah — were meeting in Calcutta to press for greater powers for states. In the middle of the discussions, Jyoti Basu turned towards Sheikh Abdullah and said, ‘I wish I had a bank of my own, I would never even bother about the Centre!’ The bank being referred to was the Jammu & Kashmir Bank; the only bank then, as also now, owned by a state government.”

Now who could tell Mr Basu that once upon a time the Sheikh had a mulk of his own. We gave away J&K, and now even the Bank is not ours.  We welcomed the outsider as Sovereign, and expected the Law to stay out. This is the contradiction drilled into our heart.

The crisis that this decision brought to fore has an old context, and will eventually form a fresh context for more crises. It is no beginning, it won’t end here. Of late we tend to break it down to recent crisis, and throw up some impressive detail. We forget that in Kashmir the devil is not in the detail. It’s in  the basics. It is in the big picture.

This is plain mathematics of Kashmir; no complex economy. Let’s resign, head home and dust off the primers of Kashmir politics. This is another zero point of our thinking; on a yielding mire of decomposed leaves no foundations can be raised. That is the long term.

Talae chuy zaes tae pathe chukh nachaan…

mrvaid@greaterkashmir.com