‘Where Has China Reached?’ Odd Reaction in Kashmir to Border Standoff in Ladakh

The standoff in Eastern Ladakh has grabbed the attention of the entire nation towards a belligerent China that seeks to challenge the status quo on borders amidst a global pandemic. While in the rest of India, there is a popular sentiment against Chinese goods and services which have now become a symbol of scorn, the reaction in Kashmir Valley to developments along the LAC has been unusual.

On 17 June, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah was forced to deactivate his twitter handle for a few hours after a widespread trolling campaign that criticized the public opinion on the Ladakh situation. The former CM’s tweet read: “Those Kashmiris tempted to look towards China as some sort of saviour need only google the plight of Uighur Muslims. Be careful what you wish for.”

Immediately after this post, a storm of tweets appeared on his timeline criticizing, ridiculing, and denouncing his stand on the issue. Omar was caught off guard with the deluge of negative reaction that his tweet generated, and which subsequently led to the deactivation of his account. However, the tweet and the response it generated highlighted a disturbing trend that has emerged ever since the first news report of the border stand-off between India and China.

Kashmiris and a significant section of the population in Jammu have used the standoff as a means of catharsis. Using humour, satire, and sarcasm – memes in the internet parlance – the local population has left no stone unturned to mock the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Chinese belligerence. On the streets of Srinagar, the most common greeting is “cheen kot woat?” (where has China reached?) – clearly alluding towards the ongoing border situation. Some online memes have started showing Xi Jingping dressed in Kashmiri attire, some even show him cooking Wazwan.

Be it a salon, a funeral, or the local bakery, China dominates every single conversation. Another common jibe “cheen woat Sonmarg” (China has reached Sonmarg) suggests that the Kashmiri population would not mind losing entire districts of Ladakh and Kargil as long as it dents the image of the government in power.

People have sharply focused their antennas to the ongoing situation consuming minute by minute updates even on slow speed internet. Screenshots, weblinks of Chinese state media, particularly the Global Times, are spreading like wildfire on WhatsApp. Stone pelters at the Sunday gunfight site inSrinagar raised “cheen aya, cheen aya” (China has arrived, China has arrived) slogans to mock the security forces deployed to deal with the law and order situation.

Among the intelligentsia in Kashmir, the Chinese aggression, by and large, is seen as a blessing in disguise which would help in easing the iron fist grip of the Modi government’s policy approach towards Kashmir. A common line of argument that is doing rounds in the valley is that the central government can only unleash its power against Kashmiris or Pakistan, and that it lacks the spine when it comes to big powers like China.

There is also an attempt to link the Chinese aggression with the constitutional changes and down gradation of the now erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The people in the valley think that whatever China is doing is a well thought out plan between Islamabad and Beijing to occupy territory and teach the BJP a hard lesson.

Whereas on social media, the reaction to the border stand-off has been mostly to lampoon and rub salt on injury, the offline conversation suggests that the people are well aware of Chinese mistreatment of minorities and their pathological hatred for Muslims.

Moreover, there is a realization that the aggravation of conflict may result in a war which in turn will bring havoc and destruction to Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh together. Despite that, the people are seeing China’s aggression as a lesser evil simply because it doesn’t affect their lives and livelihood directly.

In the eyes of people in the valley and some parts of Jammu, the hard-line policies of the Modi government can only be contained by an external factor. There cannot be a better indicator of the absolute alienation even among the pro-India lot in Kashmir.

Not surprisingly, mainstream leaders have used the current situation to lash out at the central government on the abrogation of Article 370. The border standoff has given wings to mainstream parties who are now showing the temerity to question the policy of the Modi government openly.

NEWS 18