news details |
|
|
| Struggle in Jammu for empowerment, struggle in Kashmir for secession | | Abandoning Nationalists | | Rustam
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 5: Jammu and Kashmir State acceded to the Indian Dominion on October 26, 1947. Ever since then, the nation has been facing in Kashmir one trouble or the other. This, notwithstanding the fact that Kashmir and Kashmiri leadership have been exercising absolute and unbridled powers, including the residuary powers, and ruling not just the Kashmir Valley but also Jammu and Ladakh. The transfer of political power from Jammu to Kashmir in 1947 and the over-empowerment of Kashmir should have changed the attitude of the Kashmiri leadership and made them think positively about the over-generous New Delhi, which is highly biased as far as its attitude towards Jammu and Ladakh is concerned. Unfortunately, it has not happened even after more than 63 years of the state's accession. On the contrary, the Kashmiri leadership has turned more hostile towards New Delhi.
There is no doubt whatever that the Kashmiri leadership continues to believe in the pernicious two-nation theory that was responsible for the communal partition of India in August 1947, as also responsible for the cold-blooded murder of millions of people, displacement of population and loot, plunder and rape on an unprecedented scale. The statements being made by the chief minister, the main opposition leader in the assembly and those outside the political establishment on a daily basis have left none, except New Delhi, in any doubt that the Kashmiri leadership wants to drive the state away from the national mainstream and reestablish in the segregated state a local oligarchy under which the ruling elite would exercise extraordinary legislative, judicial and financial powers and the common people would be deprived of even those normal civil and political rights which are available to them under the state constitution of 1957. How else should one describe the statements like "Kashmir is not fighting for financial and employment packages; Kashmir is a political problem that needs to be resolved politically?"
It would be no exaggeration to say that the problem in Kashmir is not political but patently communal and that the bottom-line of the ideology being preached by the Kashmiri leadership is secession from India. In other words, Kashmir is not struggling for empowerment; it is struggling for separation, based on purely religious considerations. It is indeed unfortunate that the powers-that-be in New Delhi have never recognized this stark reality and have, instead, consistently given legitimacy to the politics of separatism being indulged in by Kashmiri leaders, both separatist and the so-called mainstream, thus complicating further the already rather complex situation in the state.
The demand in Kashmir for the so-called political settlement and New Delhi's exceptionally positive attitude to what the Kashmiri leadership has been doing to unsettle the settled since October 1947 is one part of the story and it constitutes a very sad reflection on those responsible for the unity and integrity of India. The other part of the story is very depressing and it deals with Jammu province, the nation's core constituency. Core constituency because the people of Jammu province have been consistently fighting the regressive forces in the Kashmir Valley and suffering immense losses in the process. The bottom-line in Jammu is full integration and application of the Indian Constitution to the state in full. "Integrate us fully into India" is the cornerstone of the Jammu's political philosophy.
The people of Jammu province have been struggling to achieve two fundamental objectives. One, as mentioned earlier, complete merger of the state with India. And, the other, empowerment so that they could also lead a dignified life as Indian nationals and exercise all those rights their counterparts in the rest of the country exercise under the Indian constitutional framework. Unfortunately, however, New Delhi has never appreciated the role being played by its core constituency in the state ever since the state's accession. On the contrary, the authorities in New Delhi, under the baneful influence of the Kashmiri leadership, have always despised and cursed their core constituency. So much so that some of those who matter in New Delhi have on several occasions held the people of Jammu province responsible for the so-called Kashmiri alienation. For example, New Delhi has consistently denounced the 1952-1953 Ek Nissan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Pradhan (One Flag, One President and One Constitution) movement in Jammu as communal and anti-Kashmir.
The attitude of the authorities in New Delhi towards the nation's core constituency in the state has not changed a bit even after more than 63 years of independence and the result has been widespread discontent, dissatisfaction and unrest in the Jammu province. It is hardly necessary to reflect on the status of Jammu province in the state's polity as everyone in Jammu province knows it full well that this province has never been treated fairly both by the state and central governments and that the authorities have rendered the people of this province ineffective and unreal for all practical purposes.
It is ironical that those waging war against India are being pampered by New Delhi and those holding the national flag in their hands are being despised, ignored, and even humiliated by New Delhi. New Delhi has turned so biased in favour of Kashmir and against Jammu overlooking the dangerous ramifications of their policy towards the Kashmiri leadership. This approach will not work anymore. The sooner New Delhi realizes it the better. It cannot afford to abandon its core constituency in the state any longer. New Delhi has to reckon with it and empower Jammu sooner than later whatever it may think of it. New Delhi would do well to remember that things in Jammu are changing dramatically. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
