There is a school of thought that if you take away the education of a community you condemn them to a life worse than slavery. When a community falls it loses its culture, its social values and its pride. It slowly settles to the lowest niche available in human society after being displaced from its high perch in its homeland. However, the Kashmiri Pandit community was spared this fate by one great man who came to their rescue in Maharashtra and later by another from Punjab.

The January of 1990 saw an exodus of almost five lakh Hindu families from Kashmir as they were driven out of the state during the tenure of Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. The Central government did very little to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandit community at that time. They were forced to seek employment and business in states where both the political and local climate were unfamiliar. They were shattered and betrayed and virtually refugees in their own country. Something unprecedented. There were financial issues, there were issues of housing and there were issues of employment but they managed to survive. Then came a great opportunity for them which helped them carve out an important place in society again. This opportunity was provided to Kashmiri Pandits by none other than Bal Thackeray the head of the Shiv Sena.

It is reported that a group of Kashmiri Pandits approached Bal Thackeray in 1990 for support. Thackeray’s response is stated to be immediate and direct, totally unlike a politician. He saw no political gain in the matter but he was willing to take up cudgels for the displaced Kashmiris. At first he offered financial relief which the community members declined. Help us educate our children somehow, they asked him and he granted them their wish.

Thackeray directed Engineering Colleges in Maharashtra to grant reservation for Kashmiri Pandits to enable them to further the education of their children. For the displaced community this was a turning point and it enabled them to help rebuild their status through their children.

When the BJP came into its second term of power and when Article 370 was scrapped there was a feeling that a lot would be done to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Hindus in the valley but so far no large-scale rehab plan is in progress. There are lots of shortcomings. In the meanwhile, however, the government could consider two things. They could provide reservation in government jobs all over the country to Kashmiri Pandits who were displaced in 1990 and they could provide reservation in all educational institutions including medical colleges to Kashmiri Pandits by including them in the category of backwards castes as they are a displaced community.

There is a school of thought also that says there was another reason for Thackeray supporting the Kashmiri Pandit community. This issue was raised several years ago by a retired professor of Lucknow who is now deceased that Kashmiri Pandits are descended from Marathi Pandits. The late Dr B N Sharga even claimed in a few newspaper articles that Indira Gandhi and Nehru were descended from Marathi Brahmins settled in Kashmir.

Late Dr BN Sharga formerly of Shia College Lucknow University claimed reportedly that in the fourteenth century Kashmir came under the rule of Sikander Budhshikan or Sikander Shah Mir which saw a massacre of Hindus, an exodus and even destruction of several temples and shrines. In the end only 11 Brahmin families remained in the valley who took refuge in the forests to escape the wrath of the Sultan. At this stage to increase their numbers the Kashmiris appealed to Marathi Brahmins for help and intermarried with several girls from the region of Maharashtra. At the same time several Marathi families were settled in Kashmir to increase the numbers of the Brahmins there.

Has any study of the DNA of Kashmiri Pandits been conducted? Does anyone else stand by Sharga’s claim? Dr Sharga is now dead but he did document records and the family history of several families of Uttar Pradesh the state in which he lived in his books. His brothers and nephews still live in Lucknow. At the same time there is no historical evidence to suggest that Kashmir Hindus intermarried with Marathi Hindus either.

( The writer is the Senior Editor of Daily World and author of the books Kashmir Storm and Born in La Martiniere. )