Jammu region must learn to stand up for itself

It is almost a permanent feature that the Jammu region is overlooked as per what apparently appears to be a premeditated plan when it comes to ascertaining the aspirations of the people of this Himalayan state. Delhi and Islamabad have worked in such a way to suggest that everything else is settled barring the issues raised by the Kashmiri-speaking Muslim population of the Valley.
Jammu is clubbed with Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as and when Jammu and Kashmir’s original boundaries are sketched. These places are not considered part of the resolution of the K-issue. Kashmiri Muslims love this. They feel that “the problem is here, why should other parts of the state even be considered.” This shocking reality is visible when the whole discourse gets overemphasised by the Valley-alone syndrome.
There is a ring of truth in it. Late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah used to say, “Even when a cock crows in Kashmir, it becomes a banner headline.” Now when bombs and bullets reverberate there, it is obvious that Kashmir has succeeded in drawing extra attention.
It is not a comparative study between Jammu and other regions because Jammu has its own distinct character and values which are not purely religious, but also rest on patriotism. Somehow this patriotism has been tapped and exploited by Delhi in the name of saving Kashmir for India and on occasions to “defeat the nefarious designs of Pakistan.”
But, when it comes to standing up for its rights, the region because of the mostly incompetent leadership has been coerced into surrendering its legitimate place in the decision-making and shaping its destiny. Let it also be put it in a no-nonsense manner that had the people of this region not stood like a rock in difficult times, the state of Jammu and Kashmir would have split into many communal and ethnic enclaves.
To put it mildly, the region’s leadership suffers from an inferiority complex and hesitates to speak for it lest their “masters” in the Kashmir-centric parties get annoyed. Jammu has reconciled itself to the Orwellian phrase that “all are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
The blame lies with the people of the region as well, who have demonstrated their complete devotion to the divisions on the basis of religion, caste, geography and ethnicity. The geographical, religious and ethnic division is so sharp that it has reduced itself to the definition given by Kashmiri leaders — “The region of two and a half districts”. That is a reference to the Hindu-majority parts of the Jammu plains. The hilly parts have carved out their own separate identity and do not consider that they are part of the original Jammu region.
For the first time in history, the BJP won 25 of the 37 Assembly seats in the region in December 2014. The region hoped that its fortunes would turn around. Earlier, too, Jammu had voted for a single party — Congress. But the Congress was always seen as a party pandering to the Valley.
Jammu believed the BJP would give it a sense of dignity that it had been longing for since the end of the Dogra rule. That all MPs and MLAs on the BJP ticket got elected on the Modi wave doubled the hopes that Jammu would get its due this time. The fair thing to say is that it was the success of the ugly politics of polarisation, but that didn’t diminish Jammu’s hope for the “acche din” ahead. It didn’t take long for their dream to crash into countless pieces. It has suffered more. Now whenever Jammu’s intelligentsia talks of the region’s rights, they are dubbed as “communalists” and “parochial”. Now even genuine talk of discrimination is dismissed as “communalism”. The region has even been denied its right to protest.
A candid admission the region must make is that it has no leader of any consequence. Barring one or two exceptions, Jammu has produced courtiers and for courtiers the best interests are served by getting jobs and wealth for their families. The rulers have seen through this weakness and they have seen that the leaders are willing to compromise on the dignity and rights of their people for their personal gains. The BJP leaders have demonstrated that even an illiterate understands his dignity has been compromised by the party that rules in coalition with the PDP.
In 2017, Jammu is a symbol of fragmented thinking and identity. It doesn’t have to stand up against any region or people. It only has to learn to stand up for itself. That looks like a distant dream at the moment.

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