WILL REMOVAL OF ARTICLE 370 SOLVE KASHMIR PROBLEM?

August 5, 2019Edit

By Promod Puri

Some action is better than no action. But this action is a big one, shaking the very status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The dillydallying over the Kashmir problem for over 70 years got some kick from the government of India with the announcement that Article 370 is removed from the Constitution. This very article gave special status within the union of India. This special status meant significant autonomy to J and K, which no other state in India has.

Besides the abrogation of Article 370, the Indian government has also bifurcated the state into two central-controlled Union Territories. One is the Jammu-Kashmir region, and the other is Ladakh.

Was Article 370 ever help the people of the state in terms of socio-economic conditions. Or did it ever give some autonomy to Jammu and Ladakh regions within the state? Did Article 370 help in resolving the Kashmir problem. The answer is NO.

Not because anything wrong with the article, rather I support it. Even to the extent that this kind of provision should be granted to every state in India. Autonomy is the key which can guarantee the unity of India by respecting its linguistic and cultural diversities.

The special status under Article 370, instead of honoring its intents, has been exploited by the Kashmiri leadership, more precisely by the Valley. And over the years the Kashmir Problem has become a full-fledged industry controlled by the few families of the Valley and terrorists within the state and across from Pakistan.

Will, the removal of Article 370, will result in big migration of people to the state from the rest of the country over the years? Hitherto, only the subjects can buy properties in the state. This kind of law has been in existence in a few other states of India. But no major migration has so far occurred there. So, there should not be any fear that the removal of the status will result in changing the demographics of the state from Muslim majority to minority.

Although, we can condemn the repealing of Article 370 from the Constitution as the way it got presented in the parliament without any discussion at all, which is not a democratic way. But the whole dramatic exercise is to be considered in the context that over the years the politicians, both in the opposition and in power, talked and talked and talked without resolving the Kashmir Problem.

Now, we have some action, but no talk.

Will all this solve the perennial Kashmir Problem? The answer is no. Because Jammu and Kashmir are two separate identities. Keeping them together without giving regional autonomy to Jammu region will keep the frustrations of this region alive. Jammu could be the clue to the Kashmir tangle if it gets a fair share of the power within the state. And then there is the “Azad Kashmir” factor also, which is still legally part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Anyway, no action is better than some action to keep the ball rolling. Hopefully, it will stop somewhere, sometime.

Promod Puri, Vancouver, BC, is native of Jammu, journalist, writer, and author of “Hinduism beyond rituals, customs, and traditions.”

THE GENIUS OF MY BROTHER – BALRAJ PURI

August 4, 2019Edit

My eldest brother, late Balraj Puri, who died in 2014 at the age of 86, was a social and political activist all his life. In his activism he was a journalist, contributing writer to various newspapers and magazines and author of several books. He was a human rights crusader, organizer of many peace rallies and actively involved in politics.

His scholarly and progressive rationales evinced in his writings and lectures which influenced and impacted contemporary India’s intellectual, academic, and journalistic community.

His debut in writing started, surprisingly, at the very tender age of 12, when he launched his own Urdu-language newspaper in Jammu, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. As the rest of India was fighting for freedom from the British rule, my brother aligned himself with the independence movement in the state from the autocratic rule of the Maharaja.

He was an independent thinker, and that is perhaps was his biggest asset in writing. I seldom saw him reading books. His studies were daily newspapers.  He was an avid reader of newspapers, from page to page. That was his daily cognitive diet, which kept him informed and a stimulating source of his thinking.

In this daily regime, he often used to mark several stories of interest to him and saving them for references. The latter part was assigned to younger siblings in the family, including me. Those newspaper cuttings with their headlines in straight columns or T-shaped were scotch-taped on papers and cataloged subject-wise. These selected clips turned into a little source library of information and data.

They say words are the tools of writing. To be more precise words are bricks to build a writing structure. The selection of words in this assembly depends on the guidance aroused through honest, compassionate, moral, and prudent thinking. And this is where my brother excelled in applying those principles to architect his writing integrity, which might be dense occasionally, but truthfully and conscientiously expressed.

He was a compassionate writer ingrained in originality and sanity in judgment. His writings were opinionated as well as analytical. Prestigious newspapers, weeklies, and magazines were the media which often carried his articles. His style was authoritative and stimulating, which could confront and clash with the stereotyped mindset.

Many times, I wonder how he could write extensive, informed, and discerning essays, articles, and books in the age when there was no google, and the internet was not part of his writing aids.

In the later part of his life when computers just appeared on the horizon, he was still comfortable writing by hand. His writing tools were a pen and sheets of paper on a clipboard. A typist used to come to our house-cum-office a few times a week and type out his writings while struggling to make out his extensive cuts and rewrites.

His fearless and progressive writing style was inspired by his deep values in humanism and rationalism rather than by religious disciplines and scriptural edicts.

He was not a religious person in the ritualistic and traditional sense. He developed his own practical spirituality or ethical guidelines which were reflected in his sincere, virtuous, and simple lifestyle.

He was an Ambedkarite as part of his human rights commitments.

For his lifelong services to the society, he was honored with Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards, and Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.

Balraj Puri, my brother and the cause of my humanistic views, was born on August 5, 1928.

-By Promod Puri

RISE OF PEOPLE’S PARTY WOULD HELP LIBERALS

July 27, 2019Edit

By Promod Puri

The best thing which can happen to the Liberal Party in the October election would be the rise of Maxime Bernier People’s Party.

According to the latest poll, the People’s Party has three percent support across Canada. And if the party gathers momentum, the kicked-out leader from the Conservative Party would significantly help the Liberals by vote-splitting among the diehard Conservatives.

That would be a strategical development on which the Liberals will keep a tab in its game plan for the upcoming federal election.

In the meantime, the latest numbers as gathered by the Research Co., suggest the Liberal Party has 34 percent support among the decided voters, while the Conservative Party has 31 percent.

Keeping in mind there is always an error of 2 to 3 percent, it is a neck to neck fight if the election were held tomorrow.

About the score of the other parties, 17 percent would vote for the Jagmeet Singh led New Democratic Party. The Green Party has 10 percent support, and the Bloc Quebecois sits at 3 percent.

Since the numbers keep on changing till the final day of the election, for both the leading parties, the Liberal and the Conservative, it would be an indecisive scenario.

Being barely ahead of the Conservative, it is imperative on the leadership of Centre-left Liberal Party to seek electoral alliances with the two Left parties, the NDP and the Green.

If that happens, the Conservatives, under its right-leaning leadership of Andrew Sheer, will remain in the Opposition at least till the next big one. And the Bernier’s ultra-right party could be annihilated.

And that is what progressive Canadians would like to see that this country does not become a shadow image of the USA under Trump’s presidency.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can take the alliance route, which would be historical in the politics of Canada, as his approval rating is ahead of Sheer with 41 percent and 36 percent respectively, according to the Research Co.

(Promod Puri is a journalist, writer, and author of “Hinduism beyond rituals, customs, and traditions).

WATERMELON, THE DELIGHT OF SUMMER

In the abundant rally of summer fruits, watermelon is the heavyweight champion. The green globe occupies its own majestic space in separate and more significant bins apart from the rest of the babies in comparison. Its real value lies in the sweet and ninety percent watery pulp. It is the delight of summer and pride of picnics. Being high in nutrients, doctors recommend watermelon as it lowers BP. In fact, the king of fruits is soaked in nutrients. It is loaded with lycopene, the antioxidant, which is said to control cancer and diabetes, according to WebMD. The selection of watermelon, which has red and sweet pulp, has always been a big question mark. Does knocking on its thick outer surface and feeling the hollow sound from inside help. Maybe!
-Promod Puri

Don’t Believe “Because It Is Said”

Lord Buddha said:

“that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said; nor traditions because they have been handed down from antiquity; nor rumors, as such; nor writings by ages, because sages wrote them; nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption we may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on the mere authority of our teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing, doctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness. For this, I taught you not to believe merely because you have heard, but when you believed of your consciousness, then to act accordingly and abundantly.”
—Secret Doctrine III. 401. (adapted from Alice Bailey’s “A treatise on Cosmic Fire”)

(This note courtesy Hints To The Ancient Wisdom)

A Rationalist's Open Window

I am NOT A LEFTIST,

RIGHTIST OR CENTERIST,

BUT A RATIONALIST,

OPEN TO ALL OF THEM.

-Promod Puri

WHAT’S HINDUISM

June 13, 2019Edit

Ignoring its ritualistic aspects, 

Hinduism truly is a 

“union of reason & intuition."