Mainstream Indian media vilified J & K, says journalist Rohin Kumar

Bengaluru: Over the years, Kashmir has been vilified by the mainstream Indian media and people of Kashmir have lost their trust in Indian media due to misreporting, says journalist Rohin Kumar. Through his upcoming book Lal Chowk, he presents a ground-level perspective about Kashmir.

Rohin Kumar says that over the years the mainstream media has portrayed Kashmir from a very regressive perspective. The narrative brought out by the media about Kashmir as just a place filled with "anti-nationals" comes from an absence of conversation with the people in the area. He blames mainstream media for this alienation and hopes to portray Kashmir in its ground reality.

In his book, he explores ideas from abrogation of Article 370, Kashmiri pandits, the narrative of Kashmiri women, alienation between Delhi and Kashmir to the role of media in propagating such narratives among many other topics.

Hans India spoke to a writer of the book and a seasoned journalist, Rohin Kumar to understand his experience and struggles of writing this book.

It all started when a friend suggested that he should write a book compiling all his reports. He started writing the book roughly 11 months back and began to explore the subject.

"Though the book is 100 per cent reportage, I wanted to write about aspects that are not covered in reports," said Rohin Kumar. As an outsider to the land, he adds that has excluded his opinion about the topic but rather has captured the narrative from the local people.

Rohin believes that through this book he has tried to bring out that Kashmir as not just a place of conflict but also touches upon civic issues like air pollution, moral policing, water contamination, etc that is not often talked about. He also added that Kashmiri issues are never part of the protests in India as well.

As someone who was in Kashmir during the abrogation of Article 370, he also addresses inadequate media coverage of Kashmir during those tougher times. "There were security forces every 15 metres and media claimed that people were not protesting. They were not protesting due to the restrictions," he said.

When they did protest, it was not covered by Indian media but was a reporter by BBC. A segment of the book also talks about the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley. "It's a fact that some Kashmiri Pandits still live in the valley in complete brotherhood with the Muslim communities." He added.

Speaking about the title, the writer adds, "I chose the title Lal Chowk simply because it was a place of great significance politically and historically. After the Indo-Pak war, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the people at this place, and several other great leaders have given speeches here." he said. He added that it is also the place with the most restrictions.; swarming with security, strewn with barbed wires and barricades.

As a writer, Rohin faced a lot of obstacles wiring the book and while reporting. He says that when he sat down to write, he was suddenly struggling with writer's block as he was listening to the recordings of these reports over and over.

As a reporter, he told that he has witnessed an encounter and grenade attack in the advent of reporting. "It might seem like an exciting moment as a reporter to twoness these things but nobody has an excitement for violence:" he added.

He also struggled to talk to the locals as the locals have years of distrust for Indian media. "But eventually people began to understand me and started telling their stories" he added.

The book will be published under Hind Yugm first in Hindi and followed by English. The book will be available by next month.

Rohin Kumar also plans to write a novel based in Ladakh in future but is currently awaiting approval from publications.