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| Congress more than Kashmiri parties 'responsible' for Jammu's miseries, say the youth | | Hollow Sloganeering | | Rustam
JAMMU, Oct 14: The people of Jammu province, which houses almost half of the State's population and is also termed as the land of the abandoned refugees, are seething with anger. Their anger is directed more against the Congress rather than the Kashmiri parties, including the pro-autonomy and essentially sectarian and fundamentally Kashmir-centric National Conference (NC). They bemoan, and rightly, that they voted for the Congress election after election hoping that it would fight for their genuine cause but it always failed, let down and humiliated them.
The general view in Jammu province is that the Congress always "ditched its core constituency and brazenly bartered" their legitimate socio-economic and political interests to keep the Kashmiri leadership and the Valley population in a good humour. "The existing over 67-year-old politico-constitutional and administrative system in the State is one of Kashmir, by Kashmir and for Kashmir and we are entitled to only crumbs," the radicals among the ignored people of Jammu province say, adding that "we contribute more than 70 per cent revenue to the State exchequer only to get crumbs in return and that it is the Congress party that is squarely responsible for the miserable plight of the people of Jammu province, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians included".
The charge just cannot be dismissed as silly and preposterous. The charge appears well-founded. One can catalogue here hundreds of instances to prove that the Congress in collaboration with the Kashmiri ruling class hit the people of Jammu province below the belt innumerable times and rendered them unreal and ineffective for all practical purposes. To drive home their point they cite numerous examples, including the manner in which the order relating to the issuance of Dogra certificates to those desirous of joining the paramilitaries, including the CRPF, was withdrawn.
It bears recalling that when extremists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the NC leadership opposed the decision of the Congress-held Revenue Department to issue Dogra certificates, the Congress leader and Revenue Minister from Jammu and the Union Home Ministry under P Chidambaram acted swiftly and outraged the sensitivities of the people of Jammu province by scuttling the order in a most dubious manner.
The fact is that the people of Jammu province have little or no say in the governance of the State despite the fact that almost 40 per cent of the Ministers have all along from this province and most of them always belonged to the Congress party. They believe that since the office of the Chief Minister has become the sole preserve of Kashmiri ruling elite and since the Valley has excessive and preponderant share of representation in the State Legislature, they have little or no hope of justice under the existing regime. But more than that, they say that the Congress consistently flirts with the Valley leadership and harms their legitimate socio-economic and political interests at the behest of the Congress high command.
So, it is only natural that the aggrieved people of this region blame and curse the Congress party for all the ills afflicting them. The humiliating defeat of the top Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad in the just-held Lok Sabha election has to be viewed in this context. The people of the neglected Jammu region are fed up with the hollow sloganeering and if the Congress is to win a few seats in the upcoming Assembly elections, it will have to express regret that it did let down them and that it will conduct itself in the manner the Kashmiri parties act to mitigate the hardship of Kashmiri people and ensure their all round development. |
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