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| Jammu on a winning spree | | |
STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 12: Jammu and Kashmir State acceded to the Indian Dominion on 26th October 1947. Ever since, the people of Jammu province, Hindus and Muslims included, had been at the receiving end. The situation changed dramatically in 2008, when certain fundamentalist forces in Kashmir opposed the decision of the Congress-led coalition government to divert a small piece of land at Baltal to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) on a temporary basis for creating facilities for pilgrims and unleashed a campaign against the government with a view to forcing it to reverse the otherwise constitutionally valid decision.
The Kashmiri-sponsored anti-land diversion campaign succeeded on 1st July, when the government yielded before the fundamentalist forces and reversed the decision. It reversed the decision at a time when the people of Jammu province were already on the roads organizing demonstrations against the government and the Kashmir-based fundamentalist forces. Besides, they had organized two massive shutdowns between 28th June and 1st July.
The decision of the government to cancel the land diversion order, which was unconstitutional and against the spirit of the High Court's two landmark judgments on the sensitive issue, resulted in a massive agitation in Jammu. The agitation continued unabated till 31st August, when the defeated authorities in the state and in New Delhi signed an agreement with the agitating people of Jammu province and transferred the said piece of land to the SASB on a permanent basis. The most significant clause of the agreement was that the land was diverted to the SASB for its exclusive use, free of cost. Earlier, the position was that the Shrine Board had to pay a sum of more than two crores of rupees to the government.
In between, the people of Jammu province observed a 38-day-long continuous bandh, thus paralyzing every activity ion the state. In the process the people, cutting across party lines and religious denominations, suffered immensely at the hands of the police, the Rapid Action Force and the CRPF. The sufferers included women and children as well. Not only this, more than .8 million people courted arrest. Nearly three lakh were women and children were among them. The situation was such that it became difficult for the Jammu-based anti-agitation forces to venture out of their houses. It also became difficult for the Kashmir-based leaders to visit Jammu. They were mortally afraid.
The clueless authorities tried their level best to crush the movement, but miserably failed. Attempts were made to create dissensions within the people, but with no result. Instead, those who earlier had sided with the authorities and opposed the Jammu agitation also took the plunge and joined the agitation. The authorities suffered a massive defeat on 7th July, when Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government fell on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. He had gone there to win a vote of confidence, but he resigned even before facing the trust motion because he did not have the magic figure with him.
The situation did not change even after the fall of the government. On the other hand, the scenario further deteriorated. The result was that most of the Jammu-based Congress leaders knocked at the doors of the Congress high command in New Delhi to persuade it to ask the authorities in the state to concede the popular demand of the people of Jammu province. Earlier, a number of the Jammu-based Congress leaders had described the Jammu agitation as "communal". But their attitude changed in no time because the nature of the movement and its magnitude was such. They told the Congress high command that any failure on the part of the authorities to concede the demand of the agitating people of Jammu province would be neither in the national interest nor in the interest of the Congress party. So much so, several Jammu-based Congress leaders and Congress stalwart Dr Karan Singh described the agitation as a conflict between "nationalists and anti-national forces".
It was under these circumstances that the land agreement was signed. It was a great victory of the people of Jammu province over the fundamentalist forces in Kashmir. Ever since then, the people of Jammu province have become a force to reckon with. They are, in fact, on a winning spree. (To be continued)
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