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| Dogras get things but after sustained struggle | | Valley-Centric Rule | | Neha
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 28: Ever since October 26, 1947, when J&K acceded to India, the Dogras of Jammu province, irrespective of their caste and creed, have been getting a raw deal with their leadership, instead of taking care of them and helping them surmount the problem of discrimination they have been facing, either remaining indifferent or conducting itself in a fashion that only suits the Valley-based leadership. It's true that the Dogras got a few things during all these years of the state's accession. But it's also a fact that they got certain things after a sustained struggle.
Take, for example, the establishment of Jammu University in 1969. The Dogras got this institution after four students lost their precious lives. Before the police firing that resulted in the cold-blooded murder of four students, the Dogras had struggled for years for the establishment of Jammu University. They had demanded establishment of university in Jammu on the ground that the then Jammu and Kashmir University had been unfair to them. It was not that the Kashmir-centric administration set up the university in Jammu on its own after the death of four students. It was established after the Gajendragadgar Commission, which was constituted by the state government to look into the complaints of the Dogras, recommended the establishment of a separate university in Jammu. The commission had also made several other recommendations. One of the recommendations was the establishment of a regional development board in Jammu. The authorities did not establish the recommended regional development board. As for the Dogra leadership, it did nothing whatever in this regard.
The story of the establishment of Mata Vaishno Devi University (Katra) and Agricultural University (RS Pura) is no different. The Dogras had to struggle for more than two months (February 28 to May 7, 1998) for the cause. In the process, Jammu observed a 17-day-long continuous shutdown and witnessed several police-crowd clashes, students and others faced lathi blows, hundreds and hundreds of the agitating people were taken into custody and the people suffered huge, huge financial losses.
The Dogras had to struggle for forcing the authorities in the state and New Delhi to sanction a Central University for Jammu. They launched a sustained struggle immediately after the formation of the NC-Congress coalition government. What provoked them to launch a struggle for the establishment of Central University in Jammu was the decision of the authorities to set up the Central University in Jammu overlooking the fact that Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had urged New Delhi to establish Central University in Jammu and Indian Institute of Management Studies in Kashmir. The struggle still goes on. For, the authorities, which ultimately sanctioned Central University for Jammu under pressure, have not taken any step whatever to establish the same.
These are some of the examples which clearly serve to demonstrate that the Dogras had to struggle and suffer even for the establishment of educational institutions in their region. It is, however, a different story that the non-Dogras have been heading these institutions ever since their inception. The truth, in short, is that there is hardly anything that the Dogras got without any struggle during all these 63 years of the so-called independence. The story of Kashmir is altogether different and everyone is fully aware of the fact that the Kashmiri leadership and New Delhi were for Kashmir, are for Kashmir and shall be for Kashmir because they take Kashmir to mean the entire State of J&K; because they believe that fulfilling the needs and aspirations of Kashmir would also mean fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the Dogras and Ladakhis.
This prevailing system cannot go on forever. The Dogras are leaderless and there should be no doubt it. But those who think that they can be taken for a ride for an indefinite period are living in a world of the past. They are seething with anger and they can do anything, anytime. This is what one can gather after meeting several Dogras. They are discussing what should they do get their due share. |
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