We must pity Arundhati Roy

When a gifted novelist abandons her writing and enters the world of political analysis for which she is ill equipped then we have a disaster called Arundhati Roy. Her pronouncements on Kashmir are embarrassing . Any Indian undergraduate would know the facts of Kashmir’s accession to India in October 1947 and Pakistan’s subsequent invasion of Kashmir through the so called tribal invasion (one assumes that Roy has a university degree of sorts). Some commentators believe that her ignorance is feigned and is intended to serve her larger (misconceived ) goal of separatism.

The present writer believes that the ignorance is genuine. Her knowledge of Indian history and politics is virtually non existent. This is compounded by her singular indifference to the anguish and suffering of the Kashmir Hindus, some 400,000, who were driven out of the Kashmir valley by the very same leader Syed Shah Gilani with whom she shared a platform at that infamous conference in New Delhi on October 21,2010, a meeting protested by  Kashmir Hindus, and where she blatantly called for support to the Gilanists.

These Kashmir Hindus live as refugees in various places in India in dire conditions.Many have died in these camps owing to illness and neglect. Prior to being driven out, many members of the community were tortured and killed by the same forces now led by Gilani. Liberal historian Ramachandra Guha has commented on this in his book India after  Gandhi:

      “These women and men were not killed in the crossfire, accidentally,
        but brutally targeted. Many of the women were gang raped before
        they were killed. One woman was bisected by a mill saw. The bodies
        of the men bore marks of torture. Death  by strangulation, hanging,
        amputations, the gouging out of eyes,were not uncommon. Often
        their bodies were dumped with notes forbidding anyone – on pain
        of death-to touch them.”

(India After Gandhi, 2007,p.642)

After the criticism of her indifference to the plight of the Kashmir Hindus, as an afterthought, she made a passing reference to the topic and blamed it on the government of India ! No criticism of her ally Gilani and his cohorts. She also added that she has expressed her sympathy for the Kashmir Hindus in the past. Where and when, Ms Roy? Could you produce some evidence ?

Her statements on Kashmir and as well on other topics concerning the Indian polity are often laced with fabrications and exaggerations. There is,ofcourse, a word to describe such a person, which one hesitates to use, because Arundhati Roy, in the last analysis, is a victim (The present writer has pointed this out in the article ‘Arundhati Roy is a victim’
Haindava Keralam 25/10/2010 ).

Roy’s condoning of Maoist barbaric violence (the beheading of policemen, the chopping of their arms and then slitting their throat) cannot be forgotten. The polite noises that emanate after the fact, that she does not condone the violence, are  hollow pronouncements.

What has been described as her ravings and rantings against the Indian state are just that. The causes she espouses have become a mere smokescreen for her hatred of the Indian state. She now stands exposed as a fraud. What we see is the devolution of a once gifted writer into a caricature of what might have been had she not succumbed to her ambition, vanity and publicity seeking.

Why did this happen ? Why is this a case of mild pyschosis ?

The present writer has speculated that it is owing to her early victimization by her upbringing in a Kerala Christian family. There was a double alienation at work here. On the one hand, there was the alienation from Hindu India (and Roy still has no serious understanding of Indian history,  which is naturally the history of Hindu India). This was brought on by the colonial missionary heritage and the monotheism of Christianity.

Grafted onto all  this was the false secularism (phrase used by Shri Nambiar in Haindava Keralam, in a comment on the article by the present writer) she derived from her mother who was something of a modernist, and from the larger world of contemporary Indian secularism. While the deracinated Hindu secularist has  misunderstood secularism, he or she is also partially still grounded in his or her Hindu heritage. Roy, on other hand, has no such stabilizing force.

Consequently, as she degenerated into a mere rave and rant personality (rather than one who seriously critiqued social conditions in India) she became a victim of the agenda of all those from outside India, who are not interested in social justice issues but are looking either to convert India to their religious world view or to destablise and balkanize the country.

The Kashmir issue became a separatist/Pakistani enterprise,  disguised under her call for azadi. The Christian outfits were  disguised by the propaganda against alleged  Hindu misdoings. The Maoist barbarism was justified by the criticism of corporate interests, something others also have criticised, without the Maoist fig leaf.

And so on.  Her ambition, vanity and publicity seeking compounded the problem.

What is the way out for this individual and for the unfortunate situation in which she has landed herself ? The present writer would suggest a year of total silence, during which she can catch up on her education, especially a thorough understanding of Indian history. She could consider taking her Christian faith seriously, since there are many in the community who quietly practise their faith. Many, if not most, have retained their loyalty not only to the Indian state but to the country at large, a country which has opened its doors to various religions. Many have made important contributions to the country (among prominent politicians, one name immediately
comes to mind , the Defence Minister A.K.Antony). She can quietly, without seeking
publicity, involve herself in social justice issues and even in political ones.

There is one thing she can also keep in mind. Her latest shenanigans have only united
the country. Bharat will certainly continue, since it is  the only extant surviving great civilization from the past. Millenia have gone by and it is doubtful whether Hinduism can ever be defeated by the childish games played by people like Arundhati. One can add: not even the powerful vested interests behind her will unseat the Indian state.

Pity the state that would silence a writer, says Roy. But she should worry about her own descent into a muddled frame of mind that makes her an easy prey for dishonest agents.

Pity the writer who has lost her bearings !

Pity the writer who has silenced her own conscience and sold out !

(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university)

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