Kashmiri scholars will soon be able to return to the valley, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Sunday, adding that work was underway to create a conducive environment so that they would never be displaced again. Anyone with the evil intention of driving the community out of Kashmir again will face serious consequences, he said in a speech addressed to Kashmiri scholars on the last day of the three-day Nabareh celebrations.
He also lauded The Kashmir Files’ film, saying that it had created public awareness across the country and abroad about the reality behind the deportation of Kashmiri scholars from the Valley in 1990. The head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said it was time for Kashmiri scholars to fulfill their promise to return to their homes in the Kashmir Valley.
As you return to the valley as a Hindu and a devotee of India, you are facing displacement in the past but in the future, nothing like that will happen to you, he said. “Work is underway to create an environment where you will feel safe and live peacefully with your neighbors as in the past and no one will be able to move you out again.
Anyone who pursues such a nefarious purpose will have to face bitter consequences. There are some people (in the Muslim community) with whom you had good relations. “We have to defeat extremism and live in peace with everyone,” he said. Referring to his participation in the Kashmiri Pandit Utsav Herath (Shivratri) in Delhi in 2011, he said the community had taken a pledge on the occasion that they would return to their homeland.
It will not take long for our promise to be fulfilled. This will soon be true and we must continue our efforts in this direction. Our history and our great leaders should serve as guiding light and inspiration for all of us, Bhagwat said in his half-hour speech. He said the removal of Section 370 “paved the way for the return of scholars to the Kashmir Valley”.
Challenges come in everyone’s life … We are in a situation where three or four decades ago we were displaced in our own country. What is the solution? “We will not surrender and we will keep our promise to return home,” he said. Referring to Israel, he said that the Jews had been fighting for their homeland for 1800 years. Not much has been done by them in 1700 to fulfill their promise, but over the past 100 years, Israel’s history has seen it achieve its goal and become one of the world’s top nations.
Despite Kashmir being an integral part of India, we (Kashmiri scholars) have had to live in different parts of the world. “We can live wherever we want, but we cannot forget our homeland,” he said. Although it took some time, Kashmiri scholars would return to their homeland on their own terms, Bhagwat said.
Read all the latest news, breaking news and IPL 2022 live updates here.