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| "Separation From Kashmir only way out" | | Walkout from DDB meetings no solution | | Neha
JAMMU, July 28: Last week, Panthers Part MLA from Samba Assembly constituency staged a walkout from the (Samba) district Development Board (DDB) meeting. He walked out for two specific reasons. One was that the authorities had not set up Jammu Central University despite that fact that the same was sanctioned almost two years ago. The other was the discriminatory policy of the NC-Congress coalition government towards Samba district. His specific allegation was that the state government had all along allotted inadequate funds for the development of the district. It was an important development as it demonstrated a rift between the government and the non-Congress and non-NC MLAs.
However, far more significant was the development that took place on July 26 in the erstwhile Doda district, which now stands trifurcated into Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts. What happened that day was an open revolt of the legislators, including MP, five MLAs and one MLC, against the state government. It was a very significant development in the sense that all these legislators belonged to the Congress party. The Congress is a coalition partner of the NC. The DDB meetings held in Doda and Kishtwar districts were attended only by two NC MLAs. One NC MLA attended the DDB meeting in Kishtwar and the other attended the DDB meeting at Doda.
Even far more significant were the reasons that made the Congress legislators to boycott the DDB meetings. What did they say to justify their decision to boycott the meetings? They, among other things, said: "The DDB meetings would remain inconsequential till the time 'corrupt, inefficient and abhorrent' heads in the administration do not roll…The government has adopted a discriminatory attitude towards (these districts), which (are) feeding power to the entire state…The government has decided to take (the) erstwhile Doda district back to the days of extreme backwardness…Development has stagnated…Flow of funds is extremely slow. Pace of development is staggered while the government off and on claims that (these districts have) seen unprecedented development during the last two year and a half years, things are completely different on the ground (Today). We are being ignored by design…We would have loved to be part of it (meeting) but it was a government exercise and we are angry with the government…It is just the beginning and they (legislators) would further intensify their agitation in the days ahead…They are ignoring our (districts) by design. We won't allow this to continue…(These are nothing but) Kabab-Chai-Gostaba meetings."
The charges levelled by the Congress legislators are very serious and self-explanatory; they speak for themselves and lay bare the disparities between the official version and the ground realities; and, hence, no further elaboration. Suffice it to say that these Congress legislators censured their own government and vindicated the stand of those in Jammu province that the successive governments in the state have been Kashmiri-dominated and Valley-centric and that if the people of Jammu province are to obtain what is their due in the country's political and economic processes, they have no other alternative but to ensure segregation of this province from Kashmir. But more than that, the boycott of the DDB meetings by the Congress legislators exposed those, including Samajwadi Party leader Sheikh Abdul Rehman, who have been holding the people of Jammu province (read followers of a particular religion) squarely responsible for the neglect, underdevelopment and extreme backwardness of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts and demanding an autonomous hill development council for the non-existent Chenab Valley. Remember, there exists no such Valley as the so-called Chenab Valley anywhere in the Jammu province, also rightly called Duggar Pradesh. Those who are demanding hill development council for the non-existent Chenab Valley are actually the protagonists of the 1950 Dixon Plan that had sought to divide Duggar Pradesh along the Chenab River in order to set up Greater Kashmir and enable Sheikh Abdullah to accomplish his most cherished belief.
It's time for the neglected people of the erstwhile Doda district to make common cause with the votaries of reorganization of the state. They must remember that boycott of the DDB meetings is no solution to their perennial problem. The lasting solution is in the reorganization of the state on regional, as opposed to religious, lines. Time is running out and there are reasons to fear that unless action in this direction is taken without losing anytime, the best opportunity for the Jammu province's empowerment would be lost forever. The Panthers Party has, it appears, realized this. That perhaps is the reason behind its insistence on the state's reorganization and separate assembly and separate chief minister for Jammu province. |
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