news details |
|
|
| AIIMS for Kashmir: Modi ignores Jammu, too toes pro-Kashmir line | | Anti-BJP sentiment gaining momentum, ignored Jammu region | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 25: The people of Jammu region are not happy with BJP for sanctioning the prestigious AIIMS for Kashmir and ignoring Jammu. They feel that like his predecessors, prime minister Narendra Modi is too toeing the pro-Kashmir and anti-Jammu line.
In private discussions and social gatherings, people here are often heard discussing Modi for his "anti-Jammu" policies. Amid the brewing anger, which is likely to turn into hatred for the saffron brigade if it does not correct its ways in near future, the discussion often ends at teaching BJP and Modi a lesson and starting a search in advance for an alternative group to represent their genuine aspirations at the Centre and in the state.
Modi has shown his inclination towards Kashmir ever since he became prime minister. After the September floods, he visited Srinagar only and did not bother to visit the Jammu areas which were badly hit by floods and rains. A village in Udhampur district was buried under a landslide. Many of the inhabitants were killed but Modi and his cabinet colleagues showed no sympathy for them.
He and his party took Jammu for granted during the state polls and they continue to do so. They have not properly realised and appreciated the unconditional support Jammuites had rendered to them during the state and the General elections.
Kashmir already has SKIMS at Soura, a specialised health institution, and there is no logic in sanctioning AIIMS for it. Jammu does not have a hospital where people can get the specialised treatment. They often are forced to run to Punjab and Delhi hospitals for getting advanced health treatment.
The people here feel that there has been no change in the attitude of the central government towards Jammu. Only the ruling party has changed at the Centre, the sentiment continues to be anti-Jammu. For what reason Jammu people are made to suffer? Will they continue to suffer for being nationalists? Should they outrightly reject BJP like they rejected Congress in the last Lok Sabha and state assembly polls?
These are the questions which are generally being discussed by people here in social gatherings, at work places, in barber shops and teastalls. But one thing is very clear that anti-BJP sentiment has started taking roots in Jammu. The general feeling is that the party has failed Jammuites.
After becoming a part of the state government, it is fast losing its flavour in J&K. Earlier, the party used to raise its voice for nationalist and pro-Jammu issues but its cadres surprised all when they did not protest after the Centre sanctioned AIIMS for Kashmir, ignoring Jammu. Its cadres went into hibernation after the twin terror attacks on Rajbagh police station in Kathua and army camp at Maheswar in Samba. No bandh call was given. No anti-Pak and anti-terror protest was held anywhere in the state. By doing so, it has created problems for itself in Jammu region which has elected and sent to the state assembly its 25 MLAs. None of its candidates had won from Kashmir. Now, instead of further consolidating its position in Jammu region, the party has started ignoring it and nurturing the Valley which is more likely to prove as a futile exercise.
An AIIMS for Jammu was a long pending demand of Jammuites. One fails to understand what the "high-profile" MP Jitender Singh, who represents Udhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha seat, and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, a "close" friend of controversial ex-Congress leader (now BJP leader) Lal Singh are doing? Jugal represents Jammu Lok Sabha seat.
Jitender is the product of Amarnath land row and he drew the attention of Modi and other central BJP leaders towards him for his pro-Jammu stance during the agitation. During the land row, he was almost daily on national news channels, accusing Kashmir-centric parties of adopting an anti-Jammu posture. He would give 30 press conferences a month for a pro-Jammu cause when he was struggling to establish himself as a politician. A look at his past now shows that he infact highlighted himself and gained from it. Since he now stands adjusted in PMO as a minister, he too has sealed his lips and has not been opposing the Centre for sanctioning AIIMS for Kashmir and bartering the interests of Jammu.
Jugal, who would rush into the House well to protest against any anti-Jammu move of the state or the central governments when he was an MLA, too has "vanished" from the political scene of Jammu. The people fail to understand what has changed the two BJP MPs overnight?
Since the formation of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in May last year, all the state BJP leaders, including the elected representatives, were publicly claiming that AIIMS would be opened in Jammu to provide better health facilities to the people of this region. What happened then? Did Jitender and Jugal fail to convince their masters that AIIMS was actually required in Jammu? The answers to these questions can be given by them only.
Whatever be the reasons for shifting AIIMS from Jammu to Kashmir, one thing is becoming clear to the people here that the Modi-led government won't end discrimination with them. And, it is likely to continue till they create a political alternative for them. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
