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| “Anti-Jammu, pseudo-secular”: Congress workers slam party for disrespecting Dharam Pal Sharma | | | Sanjay Pandita
Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 18: Resentment is brewing within Congress ranks in Jammu after senior party leaders failed to visit the residence of veteran leader and former Lok Sabha member Dharam Pal Sharma, even a month after his demise — an omission that party workers in the region say reflects a deep-rooted bias against Jammu within the organisation's top leadership.
Adding to the sense of neglect, no official condolence meeting was held at the party office to mourn the loss of one of its most senior Jammu-based leaders, sources said, a lapse that has not gone unnoticed among grassroots workers already nursing grievances over what they describe as the central and state leadership's indifference toward the region.
According to sources within the party, there is mounting anger among Jammu-based Congress workers over what they call an "anti-Jammu" approach adopted by senior leaders, including members of the central leadership, in their handling of Sharma's passing. Workers allege that a leader who devoted his entire political life to the party was, in the end, disrespected and overlooked simply because of his regional identity.
"Although late Dharam Pal Sharma was the senior-most leader of the party, the central leadership and top J&K leadership disrespect and humiliate him only because he belonged to Jammu region," a senior Congress leader told The Early Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The same leader pointed to a contrasting episode to underline the perceived double standard.
"An employee of the Congress office in Srinagar died some days back; top leadership of the party attended the last rites and visited his residence, but for Dharam Pal Sharma's family the top leaders have no time," the leader said, adding that "such attitude of the top leadership, including AICC's representatives, reflects their communal and parochial mindset."
The remarks, while attributed to a single source, echo a broader sentiment reportedly simmering among Jammu's Congress cadre — one that questions whether the party's regional priorities are being evenly balanced at a time when it seeks to consolidate its base across Jammu & Kashmir.
Dharam Pal Sharma's death marks the passing of one of Congress's most enduring figures from the Jammu region. A political career that began in the 1967 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections saw him represent the Akhnoor constituency on a Congress ticket across four consecutive terms — in 1967, 1972, 1977, and 1983 — cementing his place as a stalwart of the party in the region.
His journey later extended to national politics when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Udhampur in the 1989 general election, also on a Congress ticket. He went on to serve as a minister as well, rounding out a public life that spanned several decades and multiple levels of government.
With a month having passed since his demise and no visit or formal condolence gesture forthcoming from the party's top brass, questions are being raised within Congress's own ranks about how the organisation honours its senior regional leaders — and whether Jammu's long-serving representatives are being given the recognition their decades of service warrant. |
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