Alongside, Nilmatapurana, Kalhana’s Rajatarangni , Vakhs of Lal Ded, Nund Rishi’s ex¬positions and Shah-i-Hamdan’s Zakhirat-Ul-Ma¬look deserve to be equally credited for having wid¬ened the contours of the discourse on the qualities of leadership. The authors of these monumental works were the most innovative social engineers who had a strong urge to transform Kashmir by changing the outlook of its leadership. Their main thrust was on enlightenment which they believed is possible through the pursuit of knowledge, the attainment of moral ascendancy and the rejec¬tion of arrogance; the qualities which the present “leadership” lacks so conspicuously and despises so amply and abhorrently. The watchword of their philosophy is an amalgam of Vision, Virtue and Wisdom which is evidently absent among the contemporary “leaders”.
Lal Ded and Sheikh Noor-ud-din were prefect embodiment of these Virtues that enabled them to become the genuine mass leaders, the le¬gitimate people’s priests and the real harbingers of a great social change. The personal Charisma of these leaders continues to inspire every Kash¬miri even after the passage of so many centuries’. The quantum of esteem they are held in can only be gauged at Chera-ri-Sharief where an ocean of people is seen present to pay their homage. There is hardly anything that hasn’t received their at¬tention: their repertoire encompasses everything from economics, politics, science, medicine, phi¬losophy to environment; they have ably dealt with whatever came their way for rectification, reno¬vation, restoration and innovation. The following sayings of these public priests and leaders point towards what they actually stood for:
The unwise constructed structure of clay,
But those got dilapidated within 73 years,
Who with determination distributed largesse ?
Reached the destination through physically
disabled,
Who by heart recited the Holy Scriptures?
They alone became His chosen ones.
(Nund Rishi)
Some have abandoned home
Some the forest abode,
What use a hermitage, if thou control lest,
Not thy mind.
(Lal Ded)
The insightful personality of these highly thought of leaders of bygone day’s immensely strengthened people’s faith in a bright tomorrow which they had envisioned for medieval Kashmir. But after them no leader worth the name has so far appeared in the firmament of Kashmir to lead the people to their cherished goal.
Kashmir has vet to throw a leader who can deliver the way charismatic leaders have done to achieve their objectives. Not to talk of leaders like Gandhi– who is worth emulating and justifies the appellation of charismatic leader for his contributions and intrinsic merit that resonate even today to impact Indians to adopt Gandhi gari as a tool to fight injustice—-even the likes of Bal Thakrey are unlikely to locate in its milieu. There is none to equal him in his traits: determination, dedication, allegiance to his motherland and anxiety for his people. Our environment is awfully weak to encourage the rise of such leadership. It is increasingly disposed towards cheering up a huge platoon of “leaders” who are easily comparable to proverbial ‘saed makars’ . Their deceptive stratagems, dare devil stunts and dishonest dealings, which initially boost and botch us up with illusionary elixir of life ultimately make us disconsolate for our whole life. They are always on hunting spree to befool the common masses through their pretentions which quickly burst like bubbles or balloons within no time. Their motive is nothing but wealth, weapon and women’.
Kashmir “leaders” are thriving on the agonies bequeathed to the masses by the partition for which both Nehru and Jinnah were responsible. Kashmiris are paying too heavily for the Nehru innate obstinacy, stubbornness and fierce political rivalries that struck a fatal blow to historic Indus Valley Civilization ; fragmenting it to degenerate into an unprecedented bloodbath of innocent killings that finally gave birth to India, Pakistan, two Kashmir’s and Bangladesh — how many more pieces are likely to emerge on the map of the world God alone knows”. Their unwise policies have trapped them in the quandary of Dispute that has practically besieged the entire South Asia with an intense existential angst. To escape the repercussions of this colossal historical wrong is not possible till it is amicably and justly rectified. Only Deedawars with enormous foresight and moral substance can lead the masses to throw off the shackles of servitude that is fortified, day in and day out, by none other than their own kiths and kin ; the Local Sentries who uphold the tradition of guarding the colonial Cage religiously for their personal aggrandizement.
Such Deedawars do not come out of vacuum; they appear on the scene when the masses cease to listen to fakers; when they give up saying one thing and doing another ; when they learn to shift the white from the black ; when they shun their well-known receptiveness to fluctuations.
The people of Kashmir have to remake themselves to change their lumpish image that impels objective historians to portray them as big historical frauds ; Soum Badzat Kashmiri.
Their inconsistencies, unsteady and ever-wavering attitude, disinclination to mend their ways, despite the multitude of tragedies they have gone through, are chief causes of their historical misfortunes, aberrations and humiliations. They need a dose of sweet nectar to defy their routine behavior.
……..Concluded
Dr. Abdul Ahad is a well-known historian of Kashmir. He presents a perspective on the Kashmir issue and talks about Kashmir’s history and individuality and personality.
