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| Statehood for Jammu Province: Why not? It's a fit case | | | Neha
JAMMU, Mar 10: Jammu State Morcha (JSM) MLA from Bishnah Ashwini Sharma yesterday demanded separation of Jammu province from Kashmir and opined that the grant of status of statehood to the region alone could end the Jammu's night of discontent and despair and help its people achieve progress and enjoy all rights, which are available to the rest of the Indians under the Indian Constitution. His argument was that it was the "ever increasing discrimination with Jammu region" that "has forced the people to raise the demand for Statehood to Jammu." He said Jammu has all along been discriminated against in matters relating to unemployment, development and other vital spheres. "For last 64 years, the refugees have not been granted their due rights. There was corruption everywhere. Crores of rupees have been given to Dal lake (Kashmir) ignoring Surinsar and Dalsar'' (Jammu), he said.
Sharma, in addition, said: "The graph of corruption is increasing. It would soon become the most corrupt State in the country. Right now, it is the second most corrupt State in India." Not only this, he also demanded implementation of 2008 agreement reached between Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (SAYSS) and the then Advisor to Governor dealing with the package for those killed and injured, besides traders and others, who had suffered losses during the two-month-long agitation in Jammu. He demanded status of statehood for Jammu and expressed these views while participating in the debate on the budget, which was presented by the Finance Minister on March 7.
Another Jammu-based leader who raked up the issue of discrimination with Jammu province was the Leader of BJP Legislature Party Chaman Lal Gupta. However, he did not demand separation of Jammu province from Kashmir. He cited figures to prove that Jammu province has been discriminated against and demanded regional development boards and distribution of funds on regional basis. What he said was inconsistent with what the party high command had suggested as a lasting solution to the Jammu problem only a couple of months ago at Jammu. It had advocated the need for establishing provincial council invested with administrative and financial powers. It had also vouched for Union Territory status for Ladakh. The fact of the matter is that the BJP has no specific solution as far as the Jammu problem is concerned. However, to say this is not to undermine the significance of what the BJP leader said on the floor of the Assembly. That he demanded regional development board was an indication that it stands for a change in the existing politico-constitutional and administrative set-up, which is essentially Kashmir-centric.
What was more significant was the fact that the demand put forth by Ashwini Sharma evoked a favourable response from independent MLA of Langate (Kashmir), Engineer Sheikh Rashid. "We are not beggars. Let them have their separate State. We have no objections,'' he said. Last year also he had given his support to those demanding reorganization of the state. In between, Congress leader and Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma, too, had suggested trifurcation of the state and the arguments he advanced were similar to the ones Sharma advanced in the Assembly. He had said: "Give Union Territory status to Ladakh and give statehood to Jammu."
The demand put forth by Sharma is based on the ground realities and it needs to be considered forthwith. For, in the grant of status of statehood to Jammu lies the lasting solution to the 63-year-old Jammu problem. The people of the Jammu province are a dissatisfied lot and they, like Sharma, hold the view that the existing politico-constitutional and administrative set-up just cannot cater to their needs - social, cultural, political and economic. They are absolutely right. They just cannot get a fair treatment under the existing set-up. Even otherwise, Jammu needs to be segregated from Kashmir because there is no love lost between the two. It was an unnatural wedlock between the two. It was mere an accident of history. The sooner this wedlock is broken the better it would be for Jammu, for Kashmir and for New Delhi. —Early Times Report |
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