Love can spread faster than hate, or so it seems, given the chain reaction that followed the demolition of journalist Arfaz Ahmad Daing’s house in Jammu on Thursday.
On Friday, Kuldeep Sharma, a Hindu resident of Jammu, offered a plot of land to Arfaz. Moved by the gesture, a Muslim businessman from Kashmir on Saturday offered a land parcel to Sharma in the Valley.
The Jammu administration had bulldozed Arfaz’s home, which they said was built on encroached land. The city-based journalist had said he was being targeted for speaking truth to power.
Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary on Saturday visited the site of the demolished house and blamed the LG administration and the attitude of IAS and IPS officers who feel they are answerable to Delhi and not the elected government led by chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Choudhary asked the LG to hold an inquiry to find out the truth and punish the officers involved. “They (IAS and IPS officers) believe the Jammu and Kashmir government can do them no harm as Delhi takes the decisions. They take advantage of that. If an officer from Jammu and Kashmir was the vice-chairman of JDA (Jammu Development Authority, which demolished his home), perhaps it could not have happened,” the deputy chief minister told reporters.
“Let LG hold an inquiry. The deputy chief minister of an elected government is saying that it (demolition) did not happen at the direction of the Jammu and Kashmir government (led by Omar). Police are yours (under LG), JDA vice-chairman is yours. He was posted by you. If you are saying it did not happen on your order, how did they (officers) dare not to ask LG or CM about it?” Choudhary added.
BJP leader Ravinder Raina had on Friday suggested that the Omar Abdullah government was to blame for the demolition and the LG had no role.
Amid the political slugfest, a Kashmiri businessman on Saturday reciprocated the gesture of Jammu resident Sharma, who had won hearts by offering a plot of land to Arfaz.
“I was moved by the gesture of Kuldeepji and I called him today to offer one kanal of land (four times the land offered by Sharma to the journalist) at Pampore (near Srinagar) where I live. I gave him an option to either take the land or the money equivalent to it,” the businessman told The Telegraph, requesting anonymity.
“He is an emotional man. He started crying. I told him the land is nothing. I can even offer my blood to you. I pray he accepts my sincere gesture,” the businessman said.
Sharma could not be contacted on his mobile phone.
Several prominent members of the Right-wing ecosystem have, however, criticised Sharma. Dr Monika Langeh, whose X handle says she is blessed to be followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wrote it was “not brotherhood” but “a suicidal sympathy for criminals”.
She claimed the journalist had multiple FIRs registered against him.