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| Stop rubbing Jammuites' wounds with salt | | |
When the former BJP President Rajnath Singh expressed anguish over the continued raw deal being given to the people of the Jammu region he was simply echoing the sentiments of the jammuites.He has explained that the first instance of discrimination was in the share of Assembly seats and that of the Lok Sabha.He is right while expressing his disenchantment over this raw deal because even when the Jammu region has more area and population than the Kashmir valley it has only 37 Assembly seats against 46 in the valley.It has only two Lok Sabha constituencies against three in the Kashmir valley.One would like to ask Rajnath Singh and his fellow travellers in the BJP what have the party leaders done to remove this
discrimination.Let us forget the past when the BJP or the erstwhile Jana Sangh or the Janata Party had a poor respresentation in the state Assembly.However,in the 2008 election people have elected 11 BJP leaders to the Assembly.And one would ask these gentlemen what have they done
during the last over one year in forcing the Government to get the required constitutional amendment adopted by the state legislature.Nothing like this has been done.Agreed that the Kashmir centric National Conference and the PDP will not support any amendment to the state constitution which will remove the bar on setting up a fresh delimitation commission there would have been no harm if the BJP leadership tried to rake up the issue within and outside the Assembly.At one stage even the BJP,whatever strength it had in the Assembly,has been a mute spectator when the Kashmir centric members supported the Bill seeking to ban setting up delimitation commission till 2026.The BJP led NDA has been in power in the centre for over five years.What has it done to end the level of discrimination to the Jammu region?It could have initiated some measures when at that time the National Conference,which was in power in Jammu and Kashmir,was part of the NDA
Government.Neither it made any attempt at ending this discrimination nor the state unit party leaders apprised the central party leadership properly.What is surprising and intriguing is the way the BJP and the Congress leaders are seen raking up the discrimination issue only during the elections.Possibly Rajnath Singh has been told,before landing in Jammu,that the state was to hold civic elections next month.Hence he has touched this issue which is very dear to the mind of the people.More than the BJP the Congress is the biggest sinner.It has been in power in alliance with the National Conference between 1987 and 1990,it has shared power with the PDP between 2002 and 2005 and it is sharing power with the National Conference at present.Its leadership and the leaders feign ignorance about the issue of discrimination.It seems it has disowned the discrimination baby.Be sure that the same Congress leaders will be seen breast beating while referring to the
discrimination of the Jammu region whenever it is an election season.But the National Conference and the PDP have a set schedule.Leadership of the two parties is oposed to delimitation of Assembly constituencies and they stand by what they feel. Lesser Assembly seats in the Jammu region mean lesser jobs for the Jammuites,meagre flow of development funds and poor representation of the Jammuites in various coporations and Boards.The Jammu centric BJP,the Panthers Party and the Congress should launch a sustained and what Rajnath Singh calls "democratic"struggle for ending the injustice to the Jammuites.A sustained struggle is called for and not mere statements and speeches.If these par ties fail to have the stamina to fight for the rights of the Jammuites they need to stop rubbin peoples'wounds with salt.
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