news details |
|
|
| BJP in for a major trouble in humiliated, ditched Jammu | | Averting impending revolt | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 3: People of Jammu region voted for the BJP in huge numbers. The BJP created history in the region by winning 25 out of 37 Assembly seats and virtually decimated the Congress and the NC in the region. Earlier in the Lok Sabha elections held the same year, the BJP had won both the Lok Sabha seats from the region. The people of the region swung solidly behind the BJP for two specific reasons. One was that the BJP, if came into power in the state, would hasten the process of its integration into India and would also adopt pro-active policy towards anti-nationals in the Valley. But what has been happening in Kashmir ever since its entry into the state power structure is to the contrary. The situation in the Valley has worsened and separatists have not only been waving Pakistani and ISIS flags, but also holding pro-Pakistan rallies across Kashmir at regular intervals. In the process, the BJP has courted many controversies and faced the nation's ire. It has been becoming unpopular in Jammu region day by day. It's not a secret.
The other fundamental factor that had motivated people of Jammu region to vote for the BJP was their belief that the party, if voted to power, would surely end the "age-old discrimination" with them and work for a dispensation under which Jammu region and Kashmir Valley will have an equal say in the governance of the state and equal representation in the government. Their belief had stemmed from the fact that the vote-share of the party in Jammu region had dwindled sharply from 32.4 per cent in the general election in May 2014 to a little over 22 per cent in the Assembly election in November-December. The BJP had lost bulk of its support-base in Jammu within six months in the wake of its decision to not rake up Article 370 during the election campaign and put on backburner all those issues which it had held very dear for more than six decades. Their belief had also stemmed from the fact that both the BJP+ and the PDP had an equal number of seats in the assembly - 28 seats each.
However, the hope of the people of Jammu region dashed to the ground the day the coalition government was formed after two months negotiations between the BJP and the PDP leadership. The BJP leadership obliged the PDP by handing over to it all the important departments and reduced itself to a nullity in the Cabinet by allowing the PDP to have 12 berths in the 17-member all-powerful State Cabinet. Since the PDP has a brute majority in the Cabinet, it has been ruling the roost, dictating terms and setting the agenda with the BJP having no option but to endorse whatever the PDP says and does. The position of the BJP in the government is more precarious as compared with the Congress, which had equal representation in the government, despite the fact that it had only 17 MLAs, as against the NC's strength of 28 in the Assembly.
It is rightly said that "it is rather surprising and disappointing to find the Government playing seek and hide and finally succumbing to pressure or blackmail and deciding, albeit half-heartedly, that AIIMS would be sanctioned for Kashmir". Equally significant has been the observation of the keen government-watchers that "to the civil society in Jammu, it was tantamount to capitulation to political blackmail". People are absolutely right when they say that "very unfortunately the BJP Government in New Delhi failed to gauge the mood of Jammu or that they were misinformed" and that "when agitation against denial of AIIMS spread like wild fire, the Government recollected 2008 happenings". Indeed, the BJP blinked only when it found that things in Jammu region were likely to go out of hand as the AIIMS Coordination Committee Jammu (ACCJ) had given 72-hour-long shutdown call across Jammu region and also threatened an indefinite bandh.
The general view that the Central as well as the State Government need to change their old mindset in regard to the needs, aspirations and compulsions of Jammu region" just cannot be overlooked. It needs immediate recognition and appreciation as this is the only course left for the powers-that-be in the State and at the Centre. Similarly the suggestion of the critics that "if the BJP Government at the Centre cannot do anything really substantial for Jammu region, it should, at least remove the culture of blatant discrimination against Jammu in matters of development, investment, fund allocation, avenues of employment, tourism and educational prospects and other services" also deserves immediate appreciation.
It is hoped that good sense would finally prevail and the BJP respects the mandate by fulfilling all the promises it made to induce the Jammu electorate to vote for it. Even otherwise, it has become imperative to respect the Jammu mandate considering the threat the AIIMS Coordination Committee administered on Thursday during its press conference, held at the Jammu Press Club. The ACC, inter-alia, said: "People across the region would be up in arms against the authorities in case they failed to keep their June 18 promise that necessary orders for the establishment of AIIMS in Jammu would be issued by the Government of India on or before July 20. There will be revolt in Jammu region against the authorities. The ball is in their court. We believe in Constitutional method of agitation. The authorities would be responsible if things assume alarming proportions in the region. The ACC hoped that the authorities would read writing on the ball and act before it is too late". |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
