Manu Joseph: Nobody told us that Kashmiris are also ‘polarized’

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. People who do not know that potatoes have been discredited as food usually do not want the same things from life and politics as those who eat avocados. Yet, it would appear that there are societies where everyone appears to want the same thing and even has the same wounds.

But that does not mean it is true. It only means that in such societies, the cultural elite and old money still control the media, that the loudest voice belongs to one type of people and the world has heard only their side of the story. It simply cannot be that anywhere in the world, the elite and others have the same politics, especially over a long period of time.

This includes Kashmir, which is in the process of electing an assembly for the first time in 10 years. Yet, you may think ordinary Kashmiris have the same views as activists who write opinions for foreign media—that they would rather fight India than move on with their lives. This is not true.

Some people who have good lives in or far away from Kashmir, who do not require ‘normalcy,’ may want revolution. But, from what I have seen, most ordinary people of Kashmir just want to move on. Societies often exist with opposing views.

In fact, this is a natural way for any society to be. When we see political change, it means that one side, especially the one which knows words like ‘polarization,’ has lost its power to tell a biased story. For some time now, Kashmir, too, has held contrasting views.

We were not told of that. Over the years, we were told that Kashmiris faced one bad option and a good option. The ‘bad’ option was acceptance of India.