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| Plight of Jammu: CCI finally wakes up, protests & warns | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 4: Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI), Jammu, is one of the major organizations in the Jammu province. It has all along identified itself with the Jammu sentiment, extended unflinching support to the national cause and fought tooth and nail against the Kashmir-centric policies. Its role during the 1990 Non-Cooperation Movement in Jammu, during the Darbar Move agitation, during the 1998 agitation over the issue of admission to the MBBS and BDS courses and during the 2008 agitation over the Amarnath land issue was spectacular. In fact, the CCI's participation in these landmark agitations proved very crucial and brought the Valley-centric successive governments to the knees of the people of Jammu province. The CCI has always provided an effective, skillful and inspiring leadership. The people of Jammu will never forget its role, which is splendid by any yardstick. The people of Jammu province depend on it for their salvation and regeneration.
However, a few weeks ago, the CCI leadership did disappoint the people of Jammu province. What disappointed them all the more was the public announcement of the CCI leadership that it would not support the bandh call given by certain organizations to register their protest against the negative attitude of the state government and the Raj Bhwan towards the Amarnath pilgrimage and the pilgrims and that those who would want to organize any shutdown in Jammu on any issue in the future will have to seek its prior approval. There is no doubt that bandh call was uncalled for. For, the pilgrimage was going on smoothly, notwithstanding a few attacks on the pilgrims. The stand of the CCI had dumbfounded the people of Jammu, even those who didn't agree with those who had given call for a bandh for obvious reasons.
But now everything has become a story of the past. The CCI has finally realized the gravity of the situation, lodged a strong protest and given an unequivocal warning to the authorities to dispense justice to Jammu failing which it would launch a big movement. It not just participated in the recently-organized shutdown with great enthusiasm and made it a grand success, but it has also indicated its resolve to fight for the cause of the trading community as well as the people of Jammu province. What has agitated the minds of the CCI leadership is the 8-point package, which was announced by the Union Home Minister only a few days ago to mollify the agitating people of Kashmir. It has dubbed the package as "anti-Jammu, discriminatory and Kashmir-centric" and opined that "the traders, industrialists and common people in Jammu region are being heavily taxed while those in Kashmir are being offered packages and concessions." So much so, the CCI leadership has accused the Jammu-based ministers of not discharging their duties towards the people of Jammu province. It has warned the Jammu-based ministers in a sense and it is a very significant development. "The leadership from Jammu region has not come up to the expectations of the people and failed to protect their interests and project their issues properly," the CCI leadership has, in effect, said.
The accusations of the CCI just cannot be brushed aside. Nor should anyone describe them as a manifestation of its biased approach towards Kashmir. Its accusations are as well-founded as these are justifiable and cognizable. What are the complaints of the CCI and what are its grievances? Its complaints and grievances are many. For example, it has complained that the Union Government has announced a Rs 100-crore package for the people of Kashmir and dismissed Jammu as unworthy of even a crumb. Yet another complaint of the CCI is that the state government has given concessions to the Kashmiri traders through J&K Bank; imposed an additional entertainment tax on the cinemas, located in Jammu province; exempted trucks carrying fruit from Kashmir to Delhi and other states from toll tax at Lakhanpur; given financial relief to the family members of the slain stone throwers and separatists at the rate of Rs 5 lakh per family; and so on. It has lamented that it is the traders and industrialists of Jammu, who have suffered a "massive loss" because of the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir; that their capital and limit have been exhausted; and that payments worth crores of rupees blocked and production reduced to just 25 per cent. Besides, the CCI has denounced both New Delhi and the state government, saying it is disgusting that they have been ill-treating Jammu despite the fact that it contributes to the state exchequer 70 to 75 per cent revenue every year.
It's no wonder then that the aggrieved and angry CCI leadership has taken New Delhi, the state government and the Jammu-based ministers and leadership to task for letting down the people of Jammu, including those engaged in trade and industry, and warned the authorities that it would be left with no other option but to strike and strike massively in the event of the authorities in New Delhi and the state not doing anything to compensate the suffering people of Jammu province. It has said: "The Government should not take Jammu traders, industrialists and other people for granted…It should not test the patience of the Jammu people…They will be forced to launch an agitation" and it would be far more radical in terms of its magnitude and implications as compared to the one the state witnessed in Jammu two years ago.
One thing is clear: neither New Delhi nor the state government would do anything substantial to redress the grievances of the people of Jammu province. There should be no doubt it. New Delhi and the State government were Kashmir-centric in the past and they shall not deviate even marginally from the anti-Jammu path they have been treading ever since 1947. The cornerstone of their policy was pamper Kashmir and hit Jammu below the belt and it shall remain the cornerstone of their policy in the future as well. The sooner the people of Jammu and the CCI realize it the better. Their salvation lies in a dispensation that is their own. In other words, the lasting solution to their problem lies in a separation from Kashmir. |
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