Human wisdom can hardly play any hoax with history because this wisdom is itself shaped and influenced by the very historical forces in Operation. Gigantically powerful and dominant, these forces constitute the very social reality of a given society and push to the forefront the persons of substance to make sensible decisions at critical junctures to lead it charismatically the goal determined by the requirements of the time and cherished by the masses. The judgments of these men of genuine wisdom and foresight, therefore, work in tandem with the forces of history to drive multitudes out of the barren wilderness of strife, dispute and despondency. An objective study of great upheavals, revolutions and freedom struggles that have occurred so far in the world history amply corroborates this view.
It is in the struggle for power that human wisdom generally withers to keep pace with the demands of history and collective aspirations of society. Unlike the leaders of Freedom Struggle the strugglers in power struggle remain largely infatuated and over obsessed with a burning desire for political office. In this pursuit they set in motion stratagems to hoodwink masses with whose support they come to power. They resort to pulling the wool over the public eye through vote bank politics; tricking the naive and the raw by building up mystique around themselves; making them ultimately pretty upset by the tricks of their trade. Smart and astute as they are, they succeed in becoming popular enough to ascend the peak. They dominate the scene as long as they are able to befoul the public. By camouflaging their real intentions under the garb of “people’s uplift”, “emancipation”, “freedom from want”, “self rule” etc; etc; they do extremely well to lure a huge number of followers and supporters into mystifying them as “charismatic leaders”. The huge popularity they enjoy, thus, baffles even writers to confuse it with charisma. The struggle they get entangled in connotes nothing but their growing appetite for powers clout, supremacy and aggrandizement.
But it is unlikely for the leadership to get bogged down in power politics in a feudalistic set-up where authority is monarchical and hereditary. The autocracy is traditionally opposed to sharing authority outside the royal, feudalis tic household. The leaders don’t, therefore, proceed beyond raising their voice against autocratic atrocities. For their inherent boldness and courage besides good intentions of doing something unusual (other than coming to power) in an authoritarian Raj they enjoy considerable public trust, support and love.
With the passage of time the quotient of their popularity rises to unbelievable heights making them mass friendly and result oriented and increasingly effective and relevant both socially as well as communally. But as soon as the situation tilts towards assuming political overtones the charismatic qualities of the begin to fade.
Likewise in a conflict zone with a long history of bloodshed the perennial crisis press forward a variety of spoilers to climb the bandwagon of an institutionalized vested interest – who become instrumental in widening the scope of malfunctioning of movements. In such circumstances it is next to `possible to locate a charismatic leader. But for political expediency or other considerations some little fingers do tend to invent one. It is like making Kashur zafrani Kahwa out of Russian poplar leaves. Following excerpts of my “poem” on the Charismatic leadership elucidate the point further:
Charisma the great;
It is too late;
To lessen the hate;
Flourishing in tiny hearts;
Oh! Charisma;
For God’s sake;
Tet you designate a leader;
Who can truly eradicate;
harsh memories
Of infamous Papa-2;
The torture centre;
Where youth was scarred;
And incapacitated for life ;
Of brutal rapes ;
Employed as tactics,
To violate the chastity of women ;
Both young and old ;
Of disgraceful crack-downs ;
Conducted frequently
To humiliate people ;
Both high and low ;
of those goriest nights ;
When elderly were disgraced ;
Toddlers orphaned ;
Adolescents whisked away ;
Never to return to their hearths ;
Of fake encounters
That ensued heaps of corpses ;
Of youthful enthusiasts ;
And high spirited dissenters;
To be buried in unmarked graves ;
Is this not an unrelenting Agony ?
That has unvaryingly besieged kashmiris ;
For decades now without a respite;
Who is responsible for this ?
Nehru, Jinnah, Abdullah or Gandhi
Will the ghost of Bloody Dispute :
Ever cease to haunt Kashmir ?
….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.
