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| Congress Minister Sharma can call a spade a spade | | Replicating Telangana in Jammu | | Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 5: Congress Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition Government has on occasions more than one identified him with the genuine cause of the people of Jammu Pradesh. He was the first Congress leader who defied the party line and virtually joined the 2008 agitation spearheaded by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) aimed at forcing the authorities in the state and at the centre to handover the illegally snatched Baltal land in Kashmir to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). It was his action that motivated other Congress leaders to support the movement, may be indirectly.
On December 6, 2010, Sham Lal Sharma, then Minister for Health and Horticulture, had gone several steps further and demanded statehood for Jammu Pradesh. Addressing a Congress rally at Bani in Kathua district in the presence of JKPCC president Saif-ud-Din Soz and many other senior Congress leaders and Ministers, Sharma had said: "Give freedom to Kashmir, that's more beneficial. Give separate statehood status to Jammu and make Ladakh a union territory. If this state has to be developed, this is the only solution". His demand had stoked a big controversy. So much so that even some of his own colleagues had demanded action against Sham Lal Sharma.
Notwithstanding his controversial and avoidable Azadi formulation, Sharma's statement had electrified the political situation in Jammu, as the people of the Pradesh wanted separation from Kashmir on the ground that the Valley leadership had consistently denied them what was their legitimate due share. As expected, Kashmiri leaders of all hues came down heavily on Sharma, but they failed to persuade the Congress high command to take action against him. The Congress high command knew that any action against Sharma would hit the party hard in Jammu Pradesh.
Now that the people of Ladakh and a number of political parties and groups in Jammu Pradesh have come forward and demanded reorganization of the state on regional, as opposed to religious, lines, it is time for Sharma to mobilize the Congress's opinion and strengthen the reorganization movement. Such a positive gesture on his part would help him win over the people of Jammu Pradesh. He and similar other leaders in Jammu can surely replicate Telangana in Jammu Pradesh. Even otherwise, the demand has to be made to puncture the separatists' balloon. |
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