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| BJP for UT status for Ladakh, but opposes statehood demand in Jammu | | STARK REALITY | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 15: Demand for the reorganization of the state on regional basis is gaining momentum with each passing day. What has given an additional fillip to this demand is the loud clamour in Kashmir for separation from India on the basis of religion, as also the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's highly ludicrous and provocative October 6 accession/merger statement on the floor of the assembly. The demand being advocated by Geelani and others of his ilk and the Chief Minister's statement describing Jammu and Kashmir as an international issue have left the people of the state's two other regions - Jammu and Ladakh - with no other option but to assert themselves and make it loud and clear that they have nothing to do with what the Kashmiri separatists and the Chief Minister have been doing and saying to implement their respective agendas, all designed to wreck the Indian state and promote the politics of communalism and separatism and that they would want dispensations independent of Kashmir within the Indian Constitution.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) and a number of other political groupings in Jammu are in the forefront demanding reorganization of the state, saying this is the only way the Kashmir problem could be tackled and the grievances of the people of Jammu and Ladakh redressed. The BJP, which earlier had given up its demand for the establishment of regional development board/regional council in Jammu, has now come out with a new slogan, provincial council for Jammu. Its demand is vague. Its demand, if accepted, would mean nothing for the people of Jammu province. The problem of the people of Jammu is political and it can be tackled only if they are given the power to legislate. Only the region that enjoys the status of statehood alone has the power to legislate. The BJP opposes the demand of statehood for Jammu province on the spurious plea that separation of Jammu province from Kashmir region would mean handing over of Kashmir to Pakistan on a platter. The argument of the BJP is illogical. Kashmir is within India not because the people of Jammu province are there in Kashmir in strength to defeat separatism in the Valley. The people of Jammu province are conspicuous by their absence anywhere in Kashmir. The fact of the matter is that the BJP is not really committed to the cause of Jammu.
On the other hand, the JSM is for the state's trifurcation into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh States. Its demand is couched in a clear language. It says trifurcation of the state is the only panacea available to end the night of despair and achieve freedom from Kashmiri leadership. No one can disagree. The JKNPP is for the state's reorganization. It wants two legislative assemblies, one each for Jammu province and Kashmir region. It also wants two civil secretariats, one each for Jammu province and Kashmir region. In other words, it is for the division of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate states, Jammu State and Kashmir State. Remember, no region, sans the status of statehood, can have a separate assembly. There is no fundamental difference in the approach of the JKNPP and the JSM and similar other Jammu-based smaller political outfits. The only difference is that while the JKNPP uses the term reorganization, the JSM and others use the term trifurcation.
Significantly, the JKNPP doesn't say anything about Ladakh. Perhaps, it feels that Ladakh already stands separated from Kashmir for all practical purposes. The Ladakh region has two autonomous hill development councils, one each for Leh district and Kargil district. While the people of Kargil appear somewhat content with what they have got through the instrument of autonomous hill council, the people of Leh, cutting across political lines, are not happy with the autonomous hill development council. They are for Union Territory (UT) status for the region.
The most significant aspect of the whole situation is that the BJP is also for UT status for Ladakh. It has even passed a resolution in this regard. It doesn't see in the segregation of Ladakh from Kashmir any threat to the Kashmir's political future. The BJP has everything in its political dictionary to defend what it says in regard to Ladakh, but it has no word in that dictionary to justify the demand in Jammu for statehood, a legitimate, constitutional, democratic and secular demand. To be more precise, the BJP has two yardsticks, one for the ignored and marginalized people of Ladakh and another for the people of Jammu province whose socio-economic and political plight is as pathetic as that of the Ladakhis.
The BJP needs to revise its formulations. If it could plead the case of the Ladakhis by demanding UT status for their trans-Himalayan region, why can't it do the same for the Jammu province, which is its core constituency? The people of Jammu province had returned to the assembly in 2008 11 BJP legislators not to oppose the demand in Jammu for its political empowerment through a definite political instrument, but put pressure on the anti-Jammu authorities so that they could get the legislative powers. But will the BJP change its attitude towards the people of Jammu province? It is not an easy question to answering considering the BJP's controversial credentials and its politics of bluff, deceit and emotional blackmail; considering its shifting stand on Kashmir, Article 370, Ayodhya and Uniform Civil Code. The BJP leadership subscribe to the school of thought the likes of Kashmiri Hindu "intellectuals" like KN Pandita who do acknowledge the need to redress the grievances of the Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri Hindus and Ladakhis, but who, like the BJP, conveniently overlook the grievances of the people of Jammu province.
However, to say all this is not to mean that the BJP alone can tilt the balance in favour of those demanding trifurcation/reorganization of the state. The people of Jammu province are capable of making New Delhi accept its demands. It is this reality that needs to be recognized by the BJP. In case it does so, it would surely hasten the process leading to the reorganization of the state. |
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