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| Congress' divisive approach towards Jammu province | | Regional Councils | | Rustam
Jammu, June 18: Jammu and Kashmir is in the wrong hands. There are elements in the Government who are demanding a regime that is outside the political and constitutional organization of India. They are at the helm of affairs and they have been exploiting Jammu province and Ladakh to the hilt since October 1947. They have virtually converted these two regions into colonies of Kashmir. They all belong to the National Conference. Then there are elements in the Government who, like the NC, want to dismember Jammu province. They are in the NC as well as in the Congress, which is also in power in the state. They do not consider Jammu province a single political entity. They divide it into sub-regions and play to the tunes of their Kashmiri masters. Infact, they are more dangerous than those belonging to the NC and similar other Kashmir based parties.
However, no one had expected that the Congress would demand division of Jammu province in a manner a Jammu-based Congress Minister on Tuesday had demanded. It all happened at Akhnoor and the occasion was the coronation day of Maharaja Gulab Singh. He did a right thing when he talked about discrimination with Jammu province and batted for regional council, saying such an instrument is a must to end the Valley's domination. "Discrimination will not stop unless and until Jammu gets a Regional Council…people of Jammu should have to rise above the party politics for the common cause, which is not impossible to achieve if a united struggle is waged for the same," he said. It is a different story that he didn't refer to the 2002 and 2008 solemn commitments the Congress made in its election manifestos and during the election campaign to fool the people of Jammu province and garner votes. In 2002, the Congress had promised a regional development board and in 2008 it had said in its election manifesto that it, if voted to power, shall establish a regional council for Jammu. The Congress will amend the constitution to federalize the state polity and set up regional council in Jammu to end discrimination with its people, it had said.
One would have appreciated the Congress Minister's concern for Jammu, notwithstanding the Congress' utter failure to honour the 2002 and 2008 commitments, had he not spoken the language of his Kashmiri masters. Remember, this Congress Minister, who once demanded trifurcation of the state at Bani (Kathua), not just batted for a regional council for Jammu, but also demanded sub-regional councils for Rajouri-Poonch and the erstwhile Doda district comprising Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts. He described the erstwhile Doda district as Chenab valley. There exists no such Valley as Chenab valley. By demanding sub-regional councils for Rajouri-Poonch and the erstwhile Doda district, he only negated the contribution of Maharaja Gulab Singh and played into the hands of the Kashmiri leadership which had been polarizing the people of Jammu province on religious and ethnic lines in their desperate bid to de-link the Muslim areas of Jammu province and establish Greater Kashmir. In fact, the said Minister only exposed his political bankruptcy by saying what he said. It appears he was blissfully ignorant about the dangerous implications of what he said about Rajouri-Poonch and the erstwhile Doda district. It is unfortunate. Such an approach towards Jammu province will only help Pakistan and anti-India communal forces in Kashmir.
The said Minister would do well to refashion his whole approach towards Jammu province. Jammu province deserves empowerment and not division on communal lines. |
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