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| Trifurcation movement gains momentum | | BSP And Jammu's Empowerment -- I | | Neha
Jammu, May 9: The people of Jammu Pradesh have been demanding a separate dispensation since November 1, 1947, saying that the Kashmiri leadership is not only anti-Jammu but also for a political system that is not consistent with what the Indian Constitution provides for. The demand for separation from Kashmir was made by the then Praja Parishad leaders, especially Balraj Madhok. The founder of Jana Sangh Shyama Prasad Mookerjee had also endorsed the demand on the ground that the Kashmiri leadership of the time had been insisting on autonomy. He had said Jammu and Ladakh could not be forced to live in the proposed autonomous State. His was a very rational and democratic stand.
However, after the dismissal and arrest of the then Wazir-e-Azam Sheikh Abdullah on August 9, 1953 the trifurcation/reorganization movement became very weak. As a matter of fact, the Jana Singh leadership abandoned the trifurcation/reorganization/separation from Kashmir plank on the misguided notion that separation of Jammu and Ladakh from Kashmir would help Pakistan grab the Kashmir Valley. The RSS, which controlled the Jana Sangh that time like it controls the BJP today, had vehemently opposed the trifurcation formulation in the name of "national interest". The RSS leadership was of the view that the arrest and dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah would solve all the problems facing the nation in the State and ensure a real and effective say of Jammu and Ladakh in the governance of the State. The RSS committed a great sin by forcing the Jana Sangh not to demand trifurcation or reorganization of the State. It was because of this folly of the RSS and its followers that the people of Jammu Pradesh and Ladakh region have been suffering enormous social, economic and political losses at the hands of the patently Kashmir-centric successive Governments in the State ever since then.
However, it was in March 1990 that a number of Jammu University teachers and representatives of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Jammu, plus a couple of other well-known activists, gave a concrete shape to the trifurcation demand and founded Jammu Mukti Morcha (JMM) to achieve the objective. The JMM was established on March 2, 1990, when secessionist movement in Kashmir was at its zenith and the Kashmiri separatists had attempted to extend their area of influence to the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu Pradesh. The JMM became very popular in no time with many people coming forward to support the Morcha and its stated goal. So much so that Union Home Minister and CPI veteran Inderjit Gupta also suggested trifurcation as one of the solutions to the "Kashmir problem". The basic support-base of the JMM was the University teachers, lawyers and leading members of business community. The JMM had then said in unambiguous terms that trifurcation of the State into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh States was the only panacea available to end discrimination with the people of Jammu and Ladakh, as also to help resolve the so-called Kashmir issue. It had said that the trifurcation of the State would protect and further advance the national interest in this part of the country. Its basic argument was that trifurcation of the State into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh States would not only harmonize inter-regional relations by making people of the three regions as master in their own respective houses but would also promote sound and healthy politics in Kashmir based on democratic and economic issues.
Unfortunately, however, the JMM leadership failed to achieve the objective because it did not behave in the fashion it was required. Besides, several anti-Jammu and pro-Kashmir elements joined hands against the JMM in order to defeat the trifurcation movement. However, it was basically the JMM leadership that was responsible for the erosion of its support-base. It lost its sheen and appeal in just three years time and virtually became defunct. Subsequently, the JMM became part of the RSS-sponsored Jammu State Morcha and the JMM president contested Assembly election as the JSM candidate. He lost the election by a narrow margin. Later, the JMM was converted into JSM (Secular). It is still there but has not been able to mobilize public opinion in its favour. As a result, its trifurcation movement has failed to click, although an overwhelming majority of population of Jammu Pradesh is fed up with the Kashmiri domination. (To be continued) |
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