ET Report
JAMMU, June 1: The general view in Jammu is that "its leadership is weak as well as a divided house and that the region's identity would get eroded and its people suffer more losses in case the Jammu leadership failed to come on one platform forgetting petty political considerations". This is the talk of the town and the civil society in Jammu is bemoaning the failure of the leadership to defend and promote the Jammu's genuine cause. It is a fact that Jammu region, unlike Kashmir, hasn't produced any leader worth his name. Most of the Jammu-based political leaders are affiliated with Kashmir-based, Kashmir-centric and Kashmiri-controlled parties such as the NC and the Congress.
Even the BJP, which used to be the sole opposition voice in the state before the 2014 assembly elections, too has turned Valley-centric. It has abandoned its reasonable pro-Jammu line and threw in its lot with Kashmir. It, like other Jammu-based political leaders, believes that it could enjoy loaves and fishes of office only if it allies itself with one or the other Kashmiri party. It doesn't realize that J&K is a difficult and complex state that needs a very effective and responsible opposition. It has turned more pro-Kashmir as compared to the Jammu Congress leaders, which on occasions used to oppose their own ally when in government. What Congress ministers like Mangat Ram Sharma and Sham Lal Sharma sometime did in the cabinet meetings is too well known. Sham Lal Sharma is even on record having said "let Kashmir get autonomy give us statehood". There is none in the BJP either in J&K or at the centre who is willing to say right is right and wrong is wrong and suggest that Jammu region must gets its due in the governance of the state as part and parcel of the polity.
Not only the BJP, even the Panthers Party, which was supposed to be a Jammu-centric party, had never been consistent. Apart from making contradictory statements and fighting cases of separatists, the Panthers Party leadership had never tried to expand its support base in constituencies other than Ramnagar, Udhampur and Samba. And it is also not a secret that when the Panthers Party was in the government between 2002 and 2005, it had not taken a single step to mitigate the hardships of the people of Jammu region. On the contrary, it, like the Congress, also played second fiddle to the Kashmiri party.
Yes, there were smaller groups like the Jammu Mukti Morcha and Jammu State Morcha, which used to talk about Jammu and the issues concerning it and pitch for the state's trifurcation, but the leadership of these outfits have shaken hands with the BJP. They do not talk about Jammu; they only sing the BJP song for reasons best known to them.
The fact of the matter is that Jammu region, unlike Kashmir, is leadership. As a result, New Delhi also doesn't pay any heed to the issues facing Jammu region. It's true that Jammu region witnessed at regular intervals massive political explosions as, for example, in 1952-53, 1966-67, 1970s and 1980s, 1998, 2008, 2010-11, 2015, but those who led the movements ditched the people who had given unflinching support to them.
The situation has now climaxed to the point that the very identity and survival of the region is at stake. The Kashmiri leaders of all hues are one against the Indian Constitution. They openly talk against Jammu. So much so, they claim that Jammu is also part of the anti-India movement and demand a solution that takes the whole of J&K state out of India. The fact of the matter is that they work from different platforms, but speak one language with New Delhi also appealing to them to come forward to talk to it, despite the fact that Kashmir has been at the helm of affairs in the state since 1947 without any break.
The civil society in the region wants Jammu leadership to imitate Kashmiri leadership so that it could counter anti-Jammu moves. It's a sane advice and Jammu leadership would do well to appreciate it in the larger interest of the region, as also in their own interest. |
