When Mahatma Gandhi modified the devotional song, Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, by inserting the line Ishwar Allah Tero Naam to make it ‘secular’ (and popularised the song during India’s Independence movement), little did he know that his version will be rejected as a ‘Hindu’ song in a region where he saw ‘a ray of hope’ amid the 1947 communal riots in India. Gandhi believed that Kashmir was an epitome of communal harmony when Hindu-Muslim violence had engulfed several parts of the country. Notably, the original song is written by the 17th-century Vaishnava poet Shri Lakshmanacharya, and sung and composed by renowned Hindustani musician Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar.
A video of students and teachers rehearsing Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, as part of the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations in a school in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, invited disapproval from the mainstream politicians and Islamic organisations of Kashmir. The mainstream, often dubbed as progressive and secular in their outlook by the commentariat, spoke the same language as that of Islamist organisations.
Mehbooba Mufti, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), posted the video on her Twitter and termed such activity as ‘the real Hindutva agenda’ of the Narendra Modi government in Kashmir. On the contrary, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah remarked that he sings bhajans and it will not transform a Muslim into a Hindu just like Hindus visiting Ajmer Sharif Dargah will not make them Muslims. However, NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar tweeted that “children are being made to sing Hindu devotional songs” and asked if educational institutions are being used for politics.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a collective of over thirty Islamic organisations in Kashmir, condemned the ‘un-Islamic practices’ in Kashmir which are meant to undermine the ‘Muslim identity’ under the ‘Hindutva agenda’ of the Government of India. The collective warned that practices such as yoga, Surya Namaskar, or Bhajan-singing in educational institutions are unacceptable to the Muslims of Kashmir.
Kashmir is often publicised as an exemplar of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood by the society, commentariat, and successive governments. In the socio-political discourse on Kashmir, a reference is always made to the so-called Kashmiriyat by the intelligentsia and the narrative builders. This is despite the fact that Kashmir has a blood-soaked history of the persecution of Hindus over centuries ever since the advent of Islam in the 14th century. If Kashmir is truly full of brotherhood, tolerance, and communal harmony, why should there be an objection to Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, or for that matter, yoga or Surya Namaskar?
This is not the first time that Kashmir-based social and political groups have displayed resentment towards yoga or Surya Namaskar. Earlier, in January 2022, several Kashmir-based politicians including Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Sajad Lone, and Altaf Bukhari objected to the Surya Namaskar programme in colleges of J&K, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
Kashmir has attained an Islamic identity only because its Hindu identity was annihilated by the Islamists. The systematic erasure of Hindu symbols in Kashmir — temples, shrines, houses, lands, and cremation grounds — was not carried out by extra-terrestrial beings. The Muslim society of Kashmir, openly or tacitly, has allowed the obliteration of the Hindu way of life in Kashmir.
The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits in the year 1990 was the final solution to the Pandit question by the Islamists. With the forced displacement of Pandits, Kashmir forever lost whatever plural character it had. Thirty-two years later, Islamists continue to enlarge the Islamic identity of Kashmir while making sure that the Hindu identity remains buried and blurred.
The 808 Pandit families, who couldn’t leave Kashmir and stayed back, are the minuscule representatives of an ancient Hindu civilisation that once thrived in Kashmir. These Pandits have become soft targets of the jihadi outfits while the Modi government has visibly failed to thwart such attacks. Importantly, their presence in Kashmir is milked by the society at large for presenting the fa?ade of Kashmiriyat.
More often than not, when Kashmir is portrayed in advertisements or public campaigns, the main highlights are Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar, Ksheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal, and the Amarnath cave in the Himalayan Mountain range. What has happened to hundreds of temples in Kashmir that once existed and are now desecrated/non-existent? Hardly anyone cares about them (barring Pandits, who continue to have immense faith in their gods and goddesses despite being miles away, making their efforts to restore/visit such temples). The destruction of Hindu symbols does not get featured in the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb debates in India.
In Kashmir, various programmes are organised in educational institutions which are of Islamic nature such as Naat recitations, Islamic quizzes or calligraphy competitions. Those who often preach that schools and colleges should maintain non-religious character have no objection to such activities. Perhaps, these are ‘secular’ activities aimed at strengthening the ‘secular’ identity of Kashmir. Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua is a very common prayer in Kashmir. Should it be characterised as Islamic prayer then because it mentions Khuda/Allah?
Needless to say, Sir Muhammad Iqbal is the ideological father of Pakistan. Many Muslims in Kashmir, and some in the rest of the country, cheer for Pakistan during anti-India protests or even while celebrating India’s defeat in a cricket match. The reason is very straightforward: “Pakistan se rishta kya? La ilaha illa Allah.” However, reciting Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram (Gandhi version) and doing yoga (celebrated worldwide and recognised by the United Nations) counts as ‘Hindu’ exercises meant to push the Muslim youth of Kashmir towards kufr.
The recognition/promotion of the Devanagari script for the Kashmiri language, while retaining the Nastaliq/Perso-Arabic script as well, has been opposed on multiple occasions by the civil society, academicians, and literary forums in Kashmir. Why is there hostility to the Devanagari script when the Perso-Arabic script is left untouched? Does it have to do with the fact that the Nastaliq is considered closer to the Islamic world? The original Sharada script for Kashmir has almost vanished only because the Perso-Arabic script took over the language.
The Islamic identity of Kashmir is viewed as a ‘secular’ identity in the liberal corridors of India and any exhibition of Hindu symbols is done only to reinforce the Islamic identity. Any standalone programme with even a slight Hindu connection is dubbed as a ‘communal’ agenda. Whenever Kashmir raises a voice about secularism, pluralism, and brotherhood, one should take such voices with a pinch of salt or malt.
Essentially, the social, political, and economic frameworks in Kashmir want the Islamic identity of Kashmir to prevail at any cost over everything else. The mainstream politics and the separatist movement are in sync over the Islamic identity — the language of both sets may differ, but the underlying message will remain the same.
Mehbooba Mufti and the clerics in Kashmir should listen to Hindustani musician Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai recital of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. It may knock some sense into their Islamist heads. Hopefully, Khan’s rendition will not be denounced as an act of kufr.
The author is a writer and political commentator. He is the co-editor of book on Kashmir’s ethnic minority community titled ‘A Long Dream of Home: The Persecution, Exodus and Exile of Kashmiri Pandits’, published by Bloomsbury India. He tweets @VaradSharma. Views expressed are personal.
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