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| Opposition for a complete change in J&K | | State of discontent | | Rustam
JAMMU, June 29: Both the BJP and PDP have started their campaign in right earnest to achieve their stated goal: 44+ seats in the Assembly and form the next government in J&K. The leadership of both the parties have been saying day in and day out that the NC-Congress coalition has failed the people of the State and not done anything during the past 5 years and 6 months to ameliorate their lot, end inter-regional bitterness and provide clean, fair and impartial administration and that there prevails widespread discontent, disappointment and dissatisfaction across the length and breadth of the State. But more than that, they have been saying that a complete change in the State is the need of the hour.
Both the parties do make a point. Indeed, the NC-Congress' misrule has created widespread disappointment and dissatisfaction among all in J&K, except in a limited circle consisting of the ruling elite and those close to it and corridors of power. Besides them, it is the separatists and extremists who are ruling the roost in Kashmir and leading a highly prosperous life. It is difficult to distinguish between the separatists and those at the helm of affairs. J&K was a State that deserved better management and careful handling considering the nature of its demographic profile, existence of certain elements in Kashmir Valley who had fought against the formation of J&K State in March 1846 under the Treaty of Amritsar, signed between Maharaja Gulab Singh and the British Government, and the 1946 "Quit Kashmir Movement" in the Valley as well as demand in Kashmir for independence, but it was not to be. The Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru overlooked all the harsh ground realities in the State and put all the eggs in the basket of a party that was known for its hatred towards India and Jammu and Ladakh.
People of Ladakh are unhappy. They are fed up with the arrogant and irresponsible Kashmiri leadership that has been at the helm since October 1947. They have been demanding Union Territory status since decades, saying they cannot have any truck with the Kashmiri leadership that stands for a dispensation outside the constitutional and political organization of India. People of Jammu province have been feeling badly let down, as they have been denied their due share in the State's political and economic processes as well as in the Legislative Assembly that discusses and decides questions of supreme importance to the well-being and happiness of the people.
Besides, Jammu houses more than 1.5 million refugees, including from West Pakistan, POJK and Kashmir Valley as well as border migrants of 1965 and 1971. Their life is very miserable. Refugees from West Pakistan do not even have citizenship rights even after 67 years of their stay in various parts of Jammu province. They are no more than third grade subjects whose life is not one of political and economic aspirations. In Kashmir which has been ruling the State since 1947, the situation is far from normal. There are sections of society in the Valley who, like the people of Jammu and Ladakh, are unhappy with the Kashmiri ruling elite. The Gujjars and Bakerwal and Pathowari-speaking Muslims in Kashmir as well as Jammu have their genuine grievances, but no effort has been ever made to redress their grievances. There are several other social groups in the Valley, as also sections in the majority community that has been ruling the State since 1947 who are also unhappy with the ruling elite. This became manifestly clear from the ignominious defeat the NC and the Congress suffered last month.
They voted en-block for the PDP. The internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus want to go back to the Valley, but the Kashmiri leadership - both "mainstream" and separatist -- is creating obstacles by making irresponsible and communally-motivated statements. The educated youth in the State are a disillusioned lot because it is not merit but proximity to the powers-that-be that is considered. The truth is that J&K is nothing but a State of discontent.
Mercifully, neither the NC leadership nor the Congress leadership is willing to appreciate the ground realities in the State. On the contrary, they have been behaving in a manner they used to behave before May 16, when the Lok Sabha election results were declared and the NC and the Congress came out of the electoral exercise minus everything. |
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