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| BJP demands UT for Ladakh, dismisses Jammu as irrelevant | | Rajya Sabha Resolution | |
STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 5: That the BJP, like New Delhi and all other political parties of all-India character, takes Jammu province for granted became quite evident when the BJP MP from Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy moved a lop-sided resolution in the Rajya Sabha the other day seeking Union Territory status for the cold-desert Ladakh. The BJP has been favoring the demand for UT status for Ladakh, particularly since the 1980s, when the Ladakhis upped their ante against the Kashmiri leadership on the grounds that it stood for a special status such for the state and grant of UT status alone could empower them, free them from the clutches of Kashmiri leadership and help them preserve their distinct identity and personality. The Congress has also never really opposed this demand. In fact, it was the Congress party that helped the people of Ladakh to get autonomous hill council, thus paving way for the region’s segregation from Kashmir and Jammu.
The resolution moved by the BJP would be welcomed by one and all in Ladakh. There is no doubt it. The people of Jammu province, too, would welcome the grant of UT status to Ladakh because the people of this far off region are facing problems similar to the ones they are facing. However, the people of Jammu province would surely feel offended because the BJP has ignored them and not included in the resolution its solemn commitment that it wanted the establishment of an adequately empowered regional council in this province.
It needs to be underlined that it was only a couple of months ago that all the Central BJP leaders had met here in Jammu where they adopted two resolutions. One was on national unity and against those seeking autonomy, self-rule and independence as well as against the policy of the Congress-led UPA Government towards Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP had described this as a political resolution, which also talked about its commitment to obtain regional council for Jammu province. The resolution had talked about the discriminatory policies of the state government and suggested that the establishment of regional council in Jammu alone could meet its developmental and financial needs.
Now that the BJP has moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha seeking UT status for Ladakh, it would surely make the people of Jammu province feel badly let down. They will surely accuse the BJP of befooling and hoodwinking them. They are already rather angry with the BJP because of its support to the amendment to the state constitution in 2002 that banned delimitation of the assembly constituencies for decades together. The local BJP leadership will have to do a lot of explaining to satisfy the people of Jammu province. It will have to explain as to why the central BJP discriminated between Jammu and Ladakh overlooking the fact that the Jammu problem is as serious as that of Ladakh’s.
It can be said that the BJP’s move would boomerang in Jammu, its core constituency. If the BJP really wishes to retain its hold over its constituency in Jammu and expand it further, it has no other option but to persuade the party high command to treat Jammu and Ladakh equally and move another resolution seeking, if not statehood, at least regional council for Jammu invested with administrative and financial powers, plus the power that establishes complete control of the regional council over the Jammu province’s land area. This is the minimum the BJP needs to do to keep its Jammu constituency intact. |
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