Three Men – Three Destinies…

One man standing who became the Tank Man…

Do you know who Tank Man was? Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is the nickname of an anonymous man who became internationally famous when he was photographed during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China.

Students were protesting against the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party and wanted democratic reforms. Govt had sent tanks to suppress the students’ movement. At that time, a fleet of tanks were moving towards the square where students were protesting. This man simply walked up to them, and stood in front of a column of 5 Chinese tanks and thus prevented their advance!

What happened to this Tank Man? He could have been one of the hundreds of students, workers, physicians, and children later found dead, shot in the back…

One man is enough… And one tank is not…

One man’s speech – and the after effects…

We all know about the famous speech of Omar Abdullah in the parliament during the trust vote for UPA. He had spoken about how he regreted once being part of the communal NDA/BJP and now he had decided to be with the secular force Congress. He also talked about how the Left parties who were against NDA/BJP then were now joining hands with the BJP.

There, along with wise words, he had also said this, referring to Amarnath land controversy: “Woh hamari zameen ka muddha tha. Hum apni zameen ke liye lade. Aur hum marte dum tak apni zameen ke liye ladhenge!” (That was an issue about our land. We fought for our land. And we will fight for our land till our death.)

(Meaning that the land of J&K is the land of the locals and any Govt of India has no right to take or use the land for any purpose like giving shelter to the outsider (non-Kashmiri) Indians who come there to visit the shrine)

After the speech, Mr. Abdullah says:
“Frankly, my speech was neither rehearsed nor designed to appease anyone. I just spoke what I felt. But to tell you the truth, I was very angry at not being given a chance to speak. I thought to myself that while people were openly talking about an MP being worth Rs 20-25 crore, here I was, not getting even 20 seconds to speak. It was a speech that I almost missed.

After that, I have been flooded with phone calls, letters and requests for interviews. Everyone in Kashmir, including some hard-liners in my own party, appreciated my speech. Yes, it was a moment that one cannot get even in a million years.”

“The National Conference took a stand that the land cannot be given away.” “My party is hoping that the people are fed up with six years of coalition rule and will give us a clear mandate. I am not even thinking of pre-election tie-ups right now.”

Latest: The video of his speech has been watched a record number of times and Mr. Abdullah plans to write a book on the events around his speech!

Politicians will make speeches. And will fall in love with them. And we Indians still think that those who speak well are good leaders. Like kabootars kept repeating: Shikari aayega, jaal bichhayega, dana dalega, usme fassna mat. But do we still keep getting trapped?

One man’s poem and the after effects…

Kuldeep Raj Dogra, in his mid-30s, was participating in a hunger strike at Jammu's Parade Ground. He decided to do something tragically dramatic: He consumed poison, stood up to read out a passionately patriotic poem he had penned, faltered and fell dead.

It was his way of registering his protest against Omar Abdullah's speech in Parliament... he was incensed by the National Conference leader's duplicity.

The police panicked. They forcibly took away Dogra's body to his hometown, Bisnah, 15 km from Jammu, and tried to cremate it using old tyres, kerosene oil and liquor. His widow Shilpi tried to prevent the cremation and raised a hue and cry. The police have been accused of insulting, abusing and assaulting Shilpi to silence her. But a huge crowd gathered and snatched Dogra's body from the police. It was taken to Jammu and the situation subsequently just went out of control. Since then, the Hindu intifada has gathered both force and speed.

Don’t you think we Indians can do it better than the Chinese? And in the mess of Kashmirs and Maharastras, can we still recognize our India?

Three Men – Three Destinies

Three men and three different destinies… The Man walking up to the Tanks – got a bullet in his back and is still anonymous, The Man talking his speech got a million appreciations and is a youth icon, and The Man who was a poet, got to drink poison…

Note: This piece quotes some portions from the following pages, with due acknowledgement and credit to the original articles: One man standing: Link1, Link2, One man’s speech: Link, One man’s poem Link.