I was able to interact with one such team at Hyderabad in July 2024 and learnt that various teams are visiting Delhi NCR (including Faridabad, NOIDA, Gurugram and Ghaziabad), Pune, Chandigarh, Bangalore, and a few other locations, to get the Election Cards prepared! While this is a positive development, the impact of KP voters on the electoral process was almost zero! Due to the fractured and confused political thinking of our community voters, we had as many as four KP candidates in Habba Kadal constituency, once considered a citadel of KPs in Srinagar; the highest votes polled by a KP candidate were 2899 while the remaining 3 KP candidates cumulatively polled a total of 427 votes! The numbers tell the story of our marginalization! 

Absence of a pan-India KP umbrella organization that can act as a policy maker for KPs in today’s political environment, where only numbers/ votes matter, is hurting KP interests. There is no representation of the KP opinion, nobody to advocate the KP requirement and aspirations. There, of course, is no dearth of KP organizations – hundreds, with big sounding names and pious intentions like the Directive Principles of State Policy! However, it is very unfortunate that we have no central or umbrella body to coordinate activities of these diverse organizations and frame a unified policy for KP Welfare. In this respect, KPs have been true to their ‘highly individualistic’ character! To quote MJ Akbar, “This community has a remarkable capacity of endless splitting,”! As Dr Chaim Weizmann, Zionist Leader and Israel’s first President would often say,” Put two Jews in a room and they shall have three opinions” – same appears to be true of KPs. One of the common elements we share with Jews is that we are highly argumentative, fragmented, and opinionated. We are also quite prone to individualism. Coming from the knowledgeable Brahmin stock, a certain amount of ego is inherent in each one of us! This, of course, is unfortunate for a community that has suffered SEVEN rounds of Exodus from the Kashmir valley since 1389 AD. The older Kashmiri groups, those which migrated to the plains in 17th or 18th centuries, tried to maintain some semblance of connect with Kashmiri culture and traditions – a difficult task considering the primitive and limited communication options available then. Their language became Hindustani, they retained their caste names (Nehru, Katju, Sharga, Daphtari, Tankha, Sapru, Kaul, Haksar, Mushran, Mulla etc) and followed Kashmiri rituals, customs, and traditions to a great extent. Nehru’s mother Swarup Rani wore the traditional Kashmiri symbol of marriage, the Dejhoru, all her life as did his wife, Kamla, at least at the time of her marriage. Several cities in United Provinces (modern UP), Central Provinces (modern MP) and Rajasthan had a decent presence of KP Community. Lucknow boasted of a Kashmiri Mohalla; other cities including Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, Jaipur, Gwalior (Mrs Rajkumari Kaul, associated with Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was from Gwalior), etc also had presence of old Kashmiri Pandit families. Delhi and Lahore had a higher concentration of early KP migrants - Old Delhi still has remnants of havelis of Kashmiri Pandits. Most of the marriages would be performed within the closed circuit of community.

Picture of Executive Committee Kashmiri Sabha, Lahore (1939-40)

As people migrated to the plains of Punjab and UP in search of education and job opportunities in the early years of 20th century, we saw the establishment of KP Sabhas for celebrating socio-cultural and religious events. Oldest amongst these Sabhas would be those in Amritsar (1908) and probably, at Lahore which had a thriving KP Sabha! Jammu KP Sabha came into existence in 1914 with the formal approval of Maharaja Pratap Singh, who also gave on lease a plot of land at Ambphalla, then considered ‘outside the limits’ of Jammu Town! Post independence era saw the emergence of KP Sabhas in Delhi (1951), Kolkata (1956), Mumbai (1968), Lucknow, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Baroda, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bhopal etc. As a teenager, I remember visiting Kashmiri Sabha at Ambphalla, Jammu in 1970s regularly since my father was an active member. Likewise, in 1980s, we used to have community get-togethers in Ludhiana. Overseas, we have the Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) in North America (US and Canada Chapters) and the UK based ‘Kashmiri Pandit Association of Europe (KPAE), both set up in 1970s. In recent years, several new organizations have come up, including Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD), Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), Kashmiri Pandit Cultural Society (KPCS, UK), Satisar Foundation, Indo-Canadian Kashmir Forum, Indo-European Kashmiri Forum UK, Kashmiri Pandit Overseas Association - EU, Iqwat etc. Australia and New Zealand too have KP Sabhas in different cities. Post migration, KP Sabhas and Social Service organizations have been formed in almost every important town of India. The tragedy is, none of these organizations are in touch with each other or has some kind of coordination!

The need for an umbrella organization to coordinate the activities of various city level ‘sabhas’ and other KP related organizations was felt way back in 1980 when some leading lights of the community including Justice PN Bakshi and Pt Omkar Nath Sharga formed the All-India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) at Allahabad. It was followed up by another meeting at Kolkata in December 1980 to frame the constitution of this federating organization. In its 1982 session held at Jodhpur, AIKS discussed the role of local Sabhas vis-à-vis AIKS, demarcating limits of each branch of the AIKS; a concept paper titled ‘Sabha, Samaj and Samellan’ was circulated and discussed by Dr BK Moza. This paper was published in various community journals and even in Martand Newspaper of Srinagar, one time considered the community’s mouthpiece! Over the years, highly respected names like Pt DN Munshi, Dr BK Moza, Prof Sadhu, Pt JN Kaul, Pt MK Kaw, Pt TN Dhar ‘Kundan’, Brig Madan, Dr. NL Zutshi (along with several others) got associated with AIKS and tried to give it a shape.

The ‘Sabha, Samaj and Samellan’ paper demarcated a clear blueprint for the road ahead, and emerged as a Mantra for Kashmiri Pandit Solidarity: 

1. Samaj (AIKS):
• For Coordinating Sabhas
• For Minimum Common Program, with Apex Body leadership
• No Margins for error 

2. Sabhas: At Local levels, for Global Diaspora
• For promoting welfare
• Preserving Identities
• Implementing Minimum Common Program 

3. Samellan: Creating a Common Platform
• For Brainstorming
• For working out Minimum Common Program
• Performance audit and Emerging Agenda 

AIKS, it appears was a worthy successor to the All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) and Sanatan Dharma Yuvak Sabha, Sheetalnath, Srinagar! In the words of Dr NL Zutshi, ex-President AIKS & KPA, Bombay (Mumbai),” We were confined to the seven bridges in Kasheer and much of our socializing occurred in that geography. For purposes of collective religious celebrations or giving vent to our feelings on political issues or even for listening to a visiting dignitary, we would rally at Sheetalnath, responding with our community slogan” Jaikara – Har, Har Mahadev”, and to follow one leader – Pt Shiv Narayan Fotedar! Then it was almost a norm: One Sabha, one platform, one leader and one slogan,” Initially, AIKS was a sociocultural organization but the turning point came in 1990 when, in a tragic turn of events, almost 5L KPs were driven out of the valley. Survival as a community became the basic issue. Focus of KP organizations changed. Some of the refugees wanted quick fix solutions to issues that had been simmering for generations. Relief, rehabilitation and return to the valley became burning issues and nobody really had a clue to what was happening or what the solutions were! 

The existing(older) organizations were often led by people who had not faced the tragedy of exodus first hand – this created a schism and led to formation of parallel organizations, including a few dubious ones! KP organizations ceased to be merely sociocultural in nature – although none of these organizations openly declared themselves to be political in character, all these organizations were forced to take up the issues of survival, including matters related to political existence! 

Way back in 2005-06, AIKS President, Pt MK Kaw had declared that:
• AIKS needs to provide an organizational framework that can accommodate different shades of opinion with a common minimum agenda and constitution, as already agreed upon.
• There can be weak affiliates and there can be strong affiliates but the Common Minimum Agenda of AIKS must be accepted by 52 affiliates. 

Unfortunately, the agenda and focus on it appear to have lost steam over the last almost 2 decades. Various legal cases filed by KP Community organizations (including AIKS) in different courts have not produced the desired results – something that could have charged the community. Nor have the ‘community initiatives’ launched by AIKS produced some noticeable results. Poor coordination with Govt authorities is visible. It appears our organizations are not being given any importance in ‘sarkari’ circles! In various Sabhas, ordinary members appear to have developed some kind of apathy towards the organizations; that, certain Sabhas are being run as family fiefdoms by the ruling coterie can also be the reason! While doing some background check, I found that a certain gentleman has been heading a prominent Sabha for over two decades! Obviously, no ‘suitable’ candidates would be available in that city forcing the ‘leader’ to continue – similar to our politicians who find it difficult to ‘retire’! Before 1990, Sabhas were more into sociocultural and religious activity but, migration has changed it all! Today, the need is for each Sabha/ samaj unit to become a FOCAL POINT for KPs with dynamic leadership.

AIKS, in 2000 was registered with a Sarojini Nagar (New Delhi) address – gradually it became Delhi centric (lately, Faridabad centric) organization. The lack of cohesion with Kashmiri Samiti Dehi, so broadly hinted at by late Pt MK Kaw in 2006 continues till date! The affiliate outreach plan became a sham – I participated in one such event in 2023 and was disheartened to see the worthy President playing with his phone during my presentation. The organization has failed to enthuse the community or, to earn the respect of an average Kashmiri Pandit. In 2021, the Presidential election process generated controversy with one candidate alleging that the entire process was hijacked, including the counting of votes! 

Recently (Nov 2024), elections were organized for the post of the President AIKS. As per the constitution, only ‘members’ are supposed to vote but it also came to light that Voter Lists have not been updated for almost a decade. Affiliate member also participate in the election process, mostly through Postal ballots. If affiliates are supposed to participate in the democratic process, it ought to be mandatory for the affiliate units to seek opinion from its members. I am a part of three affiliate groups but not in one group was the opinion of members sought to decide for which presidential candidate should the Sabha vote. If the affiliate vote was at the sole discretion of its President (and maybe his EC), without consulting the common members, then this certainly is a flawed democracy – more of a ‘you scratch my back – I scratch yours’ kind of arrangement! Reminds me of George Orwell’s the ‘Animal Farm’ ‘election’. Physical voting was organized on Nov 10, 2024 at a nice location in Gurugram but there was no consideration for people living in locations like Faridabad or even Delhi. A ‘member’ who lives in Ghaziabad complained that traveling from Ghaziabad to Gurugram entails a 3-hour journey (one way, given the traffic chaos). So, he just skipped voting! I am not sure if the overall voter turnover has touched even a four-figure mark (I tried to seek this information but my attempts got stonewalled). If that be true, then how representative is this ‘All India’ organization? Same is true of most of the KP ‘organizations’ and Sabhas – these are run by coteries and are hardly representative of the average KPs thinking and aspirations! My uncle is a ‘life-member’ of KSD – his grievance is that not even once has he received any information about its election related activities nor has KSD tried to reach out to individual members. As a result, he has lost interest – a coterie is in power and he is happy to let them be! 

To my mind, for KP organizations to be of use and have some impact, those need to be run by dedicated, full time people who can work with zeal, passion, and devotion. Let us keep in mind that Theodor Herzl, known as the ‘spiritual father’ of modern Israel and founder of the World Zionist Organization, decided to fight for establishment of a Jewish state all by himself in 1896(Jews too are fragmented like KPs). He met the Pope, the Head of the Ottoman Empire, British nobility, and British politicians – anybody who mattered, to plead the cause of his community. Working like a man possessed, he singlehandedly, set in motion a chain of events that ultimately forced the British to accept the Jewish homeland demand! Herzl did not live to see the fruits of his labour – he died young (1904, at 44 yrs) but in the 8 years that he got (1896-1904), he explored every avenue possible to make his dream of a Jewish homeland come true! Jews were stateless people, living in dozens of countries across continents; unlike the Jews, we KPs are living in our own country. Reclaiming our homeland Kashmir is a distinct possibility provided we can produce a Ben Gurion and Theodor Herzl in our ranks! 

Currently, we have a few hundred organizations across India claiming to ‘represent’ Kashmiri Pandits. Unfortunately, some of these are ‘sponsored’ or ‘promoted’ by one political party or the other. Some of the ‘leaders’ also have personal agendas which kind of casts a shadow of doubt on the selfless work several of our brethren are doing. KPs need selfless men and women, infected with the zeal of Theodor Herzl, to help us reclaim our homeland. I know our community is currently fragmented, scattered all over India (even abroad). I also realize that our community has been accused of being crab-like, selfish, self-centric, argumentative, egoistic, individualistic, thankless, jealous of each other and so on. However, these negative traits are ‘acquired’ - a result of 5 centuries of barbaric treatment meted out to KPs. These can be overcome if we have a young lot of boys and girls who are not burdened with the negative past (living in Kashmir, in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty was quite toxic), are charged with the passion for our return to our homeland. In the ultimate analysis, we cannot expect ‘others’ to fight our battles, always. To expect some political party or leader to hand over Kashmir( or a part of it) to KPs is akin to daydreaming and oversimplification of issues! Our own people shall have to come out of our ‘cocoons of comfort’ and enter the ditches to cleanse the muck. This project shall take minimum 2 generations of KPs because we do not have a strong political backing. This task requires sacrifice as well as a vision.

Now that we have a new leader, one who has proven his mettle by carrying the Mata Sharada Vigrah all the way from Sringeri to Tithwal to mark a new beginning, we are hopeful that AIKS shall see a revamp. Mr Pandita, to his credit, starts with a positive image. AIKS may need to shift its base from Faridabad to Jammu (if not Srinagar) where majority of KP migrants are living. It also needs to have a strong office at Delhi for liaisoning with Central Govt authorities, politicians, and the bureaucracy. AIKS needs to improve its outreach, with Kashmiri Samaj including KSD on one side and with the Govt authorities on the other. The slumbering affiliates shall need to be better involved. Late Justice PN Bakshi, one of the visionary founding fathers of AIKS, had suggested a template for involving the affiliates into activities of AIKS, including rotating office of President on a regional basis, holding AIKS annual meetings in different cities etc. Our elders have drafted a comprehensive constitution – only minor amendments might be needed to redefine AIKS (and the role of Sabhas) from an exclusive sociocultural organization to one that is ready to fight for the political existence of KPs. It shall be logical to define the maximum number of terms a person can serve as President/ office bearer of a Sabha or AIKS. Our organizations shall need to be more representative and responsive to the changed requirements of Kashmiri samaj. 

Email: sanjeevmunshi@hotmail.com
Ph: 9099188501