Iftikhar Ahmad Momand
In Marxist terminology, which the post-structuralist might oppose with caricature arguments, fundamentally society exist in the form of base and its superstructure. The superstructure, in itself, consists of five different institutions, one of which is the media-a prominent institution in the contemporary epoch. Media and the parallel institutions work in shaping the consciousness of the masses. In the contemporary world, the populist politics has obscured the grievances of the people in a tactful way, in which the media industry plays a vital role, aiming to distortedly represent the reality for their political ends. The populist uprising in the political arena across the globe has created many hurdles and intensified the already existing ones for the people living under the sever conditions, in the likes of immigrants in Europe-America, oppressed minorities, and for the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir etc.
In the case of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Modi’s Baharat Janata Party with its overwhelming majority at the Raja Sabha, revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The Modi Government painted this act, as a step for the development of the regions. In contrast, a report on the fourth of august this year by The Forum of Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir stated that in the last five years the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) has decreased to 8.73 percent from 13.28 percent pre-revocation 2019. Beside this, the report states that more than 2700 civilian had been pray to Unlawful activities Act and Public safety Act (UAPA), a draconian law imposed upon Kashmiris. Modi’s government advances its agenda on all front in the support of their narrative, from print to digital media and to film industry, aimed at creating the hybrid discourse regarding Jammu and Kashmir and so thus to misarticulate-misrepresent the on-ground reality in the regions. Particularly in Modi’s last five years tenure Indian film industry has been channelized specifically for producing and reproducing the information, articulations, and by extension constructing the consent of the masses that benefits the shadow regime, BJP-RSS, Governing India. The Indian Film industry has been used as de facto propaganda tool for igniting the Hindu nationalistic fervor and legitimizing the government’s actions specifically in the context of Kashmir. The prominent movies in this regard, which received Government endorsement including PM Modihimself, are Article 370, Uri: the surgical strike, and the Kashmir Files.
To begin with, the Movie Article 370 aims to justify the BJP’s move of the revocation of article 370, as a step towards the reunification of the mother India, a populist move. By extension, this movie tries to legalize the killing of Burhan Wani, a freedom fighter. It was strongly praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. Secondly, Uri: The Surgical Strike depicts the military operation that violated international laws. This movie released at a crucial time leading to the general elections in 2019, with an eye to rally support for BJP and Modi. It was praised by the Indian Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal, for instigating the patriotic fervor. Third and final, The Kashmir Files present an account of exodus of Hindu Pandits. The historians, specifically on Kashmir, call this movie a distorted representation of the past to advance the present Hindu nationalist agenda of the Modi Government. These acts of the Hegemonic interventions from the Indian government to distort history and create Foucault’s hybrid discourse with an aim to make it a fabricate-sedimented discourse in the context of Jammu and Kashmir in the long run. The consequences of these acts for the people of Kashmir will intensify the already sever living conditions. The reports of oversight and non-partisan organizations on human rights and economic development in Jammu and Kashmir is far from satisfactory. These Government backed populist fabrication will further alienate the Kashmiris and exacerbate the conflict, as the identity and reality of the Kashmiris have been defaced through these stunts.
(-Writer is graduate in peace and conflict Studies , Research Assistant at Kashmir Institue of Intenational Relations)