India
Chetan Bhagat and Barkha Dutt exchanged open letters about Kashmir.
Updated : Apr 19, 2016, 07:26 PM IST
Open letters are very much in fashion now. First, bestselling author Chetan Bhagat wrote an open letter to the Kashmiri youth urging them to integrate with India. He wrote: “If you are Kashmiri and care for Kashmir, the best thing you can do is to integrate with India. Your population size is small, only 7 million. It is not unthinkable to unite them and create a group of people that talks real business with the Indian government. Your local politician won’t talk assimilation, as he or she would rather hold more power than a typical state government in India. However, for you, the youth, the best bet is to make the Valley truly part of India.”
Reacting to this, journalist Barkha Dutt wrote a rebuttal suggesting his letter didn’t reflect humanism and didn’t do justice to the problem. Taking offence to Chetan calling budding cricketer Nayeem’s death ‘collateral damage’, she suggested that his phrasing dehumanised Nayeem and other civilians who were killed in the clashes last week.
She wrote: “It is this humanism, Chetan, that I had hoped your letter would have reflected - and didn't. Because without it, we are in danger of pushing a state already on the edge right over the precipice. And because when you play with fire, you sometimes end up burning down the whole house. I hope I may have changed your mind just a little bit. I will wait for your second letter to the Kashmiri people with interest.”
They also had a Twitter exchange:
My Dear @chetan_bhagat just wondering why your open letter to Kashmiri youth, makes no mention of the young men who died in Handwara?
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 16, 2016
it also talks of how hard is Army's job where terrorists & civilians are mixed. Let's solve this problem pls! https://t.co/io4bX541si
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 16, 2016
Because it talks about the broader issue @bdutt and aims to solve the problem. it does mention recent violence tho. https://t.co/io4bX541si
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 16, 2016
You can read Chetan Bhagat’s letter here and Barkha Dutt’s here.
Incidentally, while fending off criticism about his open letter, there was a humorous accident when Chetan Bhagat tweeted a handle called @dailyo instead of the @dailyo_. While the former is a handle that talks about one woman's quest to have an orgasm every single day, the latter is the handle of India Today's opinion page.
Oh and it's not @dailyO but @dailyo_ (an underscore after dailyo. don't ask). my bad again.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 19, 2016