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| Congress yet to fulfill solemn pledge, RSS-BJP have abandoned Jammu | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 23: Just on the eve of the 2002 assembly elections in J&K, the Congress issued its election manifesto. It, among several other things, said that the Congress, if voted to power, would set up regional development boards, one each for Jammu province and Kashmir region. The Congress remained in power for more than five years, but it did not fulfill its commitment. Ironically, the then president of the JKPCC Ghulam Nabi Azad sprang a big surprise on the people of Jamu when he told the audience at the Jammu's Asia Hotel immediately after the formation of the PDP-Congress coalition government that the "Congress committed a great mistake by incorporating the idea of regional development board for Jammu." He further surprised everyone by saying that "since the state had district development boards, there is no need for any regional council."
Again, in 2008, the election manifesto of the Congress made a solemn commitment with the people of Jammu province that "when elected to power, Party will restructure the Constitution of the State into a federal set-up by setting up separate regional councils for Jammu and Kashmir." More than 15 months of the NC-Congress coalition government are over, but there appears nothing on the horizon that could even remotely suggest that the Congress-NC coalition government will set up regional councils in any foreseeable future with a view to empowering the discriminated against people of Jammu province.
The Congress, whose core constituency is admittedly Jammu province, needs to fulfill the solemn pledge at the earliest. It needs to imitate its coalition partner - NC - that says day in and day out that it would not take rest until it obtains from the central government an autonomous status for the whole of J&K State. Why should it not put pressure on the NC and make the government take concrete steps leading up to the federalization of the state's polity and empowering the marginalized people of Jammu province, It must put pressure. The Congress is not the B team of the NC. It is an equal partner. No, the NC is at the mercy of the Congress. Congress has everything to win in Jammu province by following a courageous policy and lose everything there by playing the role of a second-fiddle. It is hoped that it would go through the 2008 manifesto and mover ahead.
As for the attitude of the RSS and BJP towards the people of Jammu province, it is one of great indifference. Both these outfits are unable to decide its stand on the people of Jammu province. These outfits have been changing colours or changing their stand very frequently, thus making the people of Jammu province to believe that both these so-called Jammu-centric and nation-centric outfits have practically "abandoned them and threw in their lot with the Kashmiri leadership." What an irony!
One can catalogue here several instances to prove that the RSS and its political organ - BJP - have been changing their stand on Jammu province quite frequently. A reference to just four of them would be quite in order. One: In 1991-1992 the RSS directed the state unit of the BJP to work wholeheartedly for the establishment an adequately empowered regional for Jammu, but the BJP practically did nothing to achieve the goal. Two: In September 2000, the RSS floated Jammu and Kashmir Nationalist Front (JKNF). Its stated goal was "reorganization of the state on a regional basis." But it did nothing to achieve the goal. It held a couple of seminars on the issue and that's all.
Three: In 2002, the RSS passed a resolution in its Kurukshetra Pratinidhi Sabha on statehood for Jammu. It disbanded the JKNF and founded Jammu State Morch (JSM). The leadership of the JKNF and the JSM remained more or less the same. The JSM did not take off in the real sense of the term because the BJP was bitterly opposed to it on the ground that the issue was political and, hence, the BJP should be given a freehand to deal with the political issues. The fact is that both these formations entered into a pre-poll alliance and contested the 2002 assembly elections jointly and captured a paltry two seats. The BJP and the JSM got one seat each. In several constituencies, the BJP and the JSM candidates fought elections against each other, thus sending a signal across the Jammu province that the Sangh Parivar was a divided house. Four: In 2008, just on the eve of the assembly elections in J&K the RSS virtually disbanded the JSM and asked the JSM leadership and cadres to work for the victory of the BJP candidates, which went to the polls with not a single Jammu-centric slogan. The BJP won eleven seats not because it was popular but because of the polarized situation in the Jammu province - BJP which earlier had been talking of reorganization of the state and statehood for Jammu.
That the BJP gave up even the idea of Jammu province getting a statutory regional council in 2008 clinched the whole issue and established that it had nothing in its scheme of things for the people of Jammu province. The fact of the matter is that it is interested more in Kashmir than in Jammu and that's the reason that both the RSS and the BJP have abandoned the people of this very strategic province. It is extremely unlikely that the RSS and the BJP would ever take up the cause of the patriotic people of Jammu province.
The national level parties and organizations such as the RSS should not take the people of Jammu province for a ride. They are a very important political factor. To ignore this factor would be to weaken the nation's backbone.
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