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| Mr Health Minister, rhetoric will not do, definite action is needed | | Separate Jammu State | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 6: Minister for Health and Horticulture Sham Lal Sharma deserves kudos for what he said at Bani on Sunday while addressing a Congress rally in the presence of JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Soz and several other senior party leaders. What he said was the need of the time and what he said needs to be given an effect to forthwith. To mark time would be to cause more damage to Jammu and its people, who have been suffering at all levels and in each sphere ever since Jawaharlal Nehru got the political power transferred from Jammu to Kashmir using questionable means or by throwing all the democratic norms to the wind.
It is an irony that Jammu, which ruled over Kashmir for full 101 years from March 1846 to October 1947, has been reduced to the status of a colony, with its people being denied their legitimate and due share in the state's polity and economy. It's no wonder then that the existing Kashmiri-dominated politico-administrative and constitutional apparatus has created widespread disappointment, discontent and disaffection among all in Jammu, except within a limited circle of individuals close to the Kashmir's ruling elite or those who have bartered the interests and dignity of Jammu for the sake of personal power and profit. They are not many. They are only handful but they have played havoc with the people of Jammu province, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs included.
What did Sham Lal Sharma say? He said: "Make Jammu a separate State, accord Union Territory (UT) status to Ladakh and grant Azaadi to the Kashmiris, who have raised the bogey since long... Kashmiris be accorded Azaadi or separate that region from Jammu and Ladakh, only then, Jammu and Ladakh can get justice and equal share…Two regional parties - NC and PDP - are demanding autonomy and self Rule…Kashmir region has remained disturbed since long. The people there are demanding Azadi, indulging in violence and also raising voices against the nation. Centre is providing massive funding to them. Despite concessions, packages and massive funding, they have continued to raise voice against the country…The nationalist people of Jammu are being crushed and their aspirations ignored. The discrimination has continued, regional imbalances are there and Kashmir is being funded massively at the cost of Jammu people. Even the recent reports of Finance Commission have indicated the regional discrimination and disparity in its finding...Local leadership is also responsible for it…People of Jammu region cannot be made to suffer for long. The time has come that Jammu should be separated from Kashmir, Ladakhis be granted UT status and Kashmir be given Azadi."
Sham Lal has not said anything new. He has only reiterated what the long-suffering people of Jammu province have been consistently saying. However, what is significant is that it is none other than a Cabinet Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government who has mustered courage and spoken nothing but truth. What is even more significant is the fact that he opened up in the presence of the JKPCC chief who is an ardent believer in the concept of the unity and integrity of the state. He is the second senior Congress leader who has done some plain-speaking and expressed the view that Jammu will get justice only after it is separated from the over-pampered Kashmir. The other is former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress veteran Mangat Ram Sharma who has on occasions more than one publicly stated that the office of Chief Minister should be rotated so that Jammu, like Kashmir, also leads the state. He has expressed this view at Dayalachak and at Samba and that, too, in the presence of the JKPCC chief.
One thing is clear: The Jammu-based Congress leaders have started seeing writing on the wall in Jammu province. They have, it seems, come to realize that the Congress party has been losing ground in the Jammu province at an alarming speed and that if the Congress is to remain relevant here in this highly strategic province, they have no other option but to identify themselves completely with the suffering people.
But the question is: Will Sham Lal Sharma and similar other leaders in the Congress actually stick to what they have started saying? They must. Even otherwise, they are morally bound to take up the Jammu cause because their 2008 election manifesto had held out a categorical commitment that the Congress party, if voted to power, would amend the state's unitary constitution in order to federalize the state's polity. It had promised an adequately empowered regional council for Jammu. However, it has to be admitted that regional council is not a solution to the Jammu problem. Jammu's problem is political that needs to be tackled political. Jammu needs the power to legislate and it can legislate only if Jammu gets the status of statehood.
While everyone in Jammu would be entirely in accord with Sham Lal Sharma, there would be none in this province who would share his view that Kashmir should be given "Azaadi." Hence, he would do well to eschew this idea as it indicates only his desperation. Kashmir has to remain part of India as Jammu has to become a full-fledged separate state within India. |
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