Regional divide comes to the fore once again
S.P. Sharma
THE elections in Jammu and Kashmir have for the first time not only resulted in a hung Assembly, but brought to the fore the regional divide.
The seeds of regional hatred sown in the past have sprouted in the election with the fight between the two main parties — the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — on the issue of chief ministership. While the Congress is claiming the slot for Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, PCC chief who belongs to Jammu, the PDP has failed to forge an alliance with the Congress as it was demanding the CM's post for Mufti Mohammed Sayeed on the ground that the verdict was in favour of his party.
The regional divide has also exposed certain senior leaders who had so far been preaching brotherhood among all the three regions of the state — Jammu, the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh — but highlighted regionalism in the election campaign.
Not only the two major regions, Jammu and Kashmir, but the people of Ladakh have also ventilated their aspirations this time with the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) winning both seats of Leh unopposed.
No candidate of the Congress and the National Conference contested the two seats against the LUTF nominees. The outfit, backed by all parties, except the NC, is demanding separation from Kashmir and a Union Territory status for the cold desert area.
At the time of writing, the PDP's refusal to accept Mr Azad as Chief Minister has not been relished in the Jammu region. This is for the first time in the past 55 years that the issue of chief ministership to Jammu has been raised.
A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said that whenever the demand for Jammu's separation from the Valley came, a section of the Kashmir leadership pointed out that of the six districts of Jammu, only two-and-a-half Hindu dominated districts of Jammu, Kathua and half of Udhampur could separate and the areas on the other side of the Chenab consisting of Doda, Rajouri and Poonch should remain with Kashmir. However, this time they got exposed as they were not accepting Mr Azad as Chief Minister. He belongs to the Muslim-dominated Doda district which they want to retain with Kashmir under the Dixon formula.
It is said that Mr Azad not only studied in Kashmir, but was a Kashmiri-speaking Muslim married in the Valley.
It is also said that the only Assembly election won by PDP chief Mufti Mohammed Sayeed so far was from the Ranbirsingh Pura constituency of the Jammu district in 1980, where the people open heartedly accepted him as the leader. However, he is not reciprocating with the same spirit this time, it is alleged.
The Congress has won 20 seats in the state, while the PDP got 16 seats in the Valley. Both sides are claiming that their respective leaders were in a better position to rule because of their vast political and administrative experience.
The Jammu region never had a Chief Minister as the post always went to Kashmir although during the Congress regime, at times, the strength of the MLAs of the party was more in Jammu. This is for the first time that the question of chief ministership for the Jammu region is being debated openly.
Many parties, including the National Panthers Party and the J&K Panthers Party, fought the election on the sensitive issue of separate state for Jammu as the area was allegedly being discriminated by successive governments. The Jammu State Morcha (JSM) was backed by the RSS which has so far traditionally been supporting the BJP in all the previous elections. Though the JSM failed to win a single seat in Jammu town, a rebel of the Congress, who contested as a candidate from the Morcha from Bishnah in Jammu district, won.
Mr Bhim Singh, Panthers Party chief, says, "the voice of dissent which remained suppressed for 55 years came to the political surface for the first time in the state. This is the real trend of emergence of the democratic aspirations of the people of the three regions which is a healthy trend".
"It will give rise to a natural phenomenon to reorganise the state on cultural, linguistic and geographical identity of the three regions", he says.
Mr Bhim Singh says that "the declaration of the PDP that they will not accept a Jammu man as Chief Minister has substantiated the claim of the people of Jammu that the future growth of their identity, culture and language is possible only when they are accorded statehood".
This is not for the first time that the issue of separation of Jammu from the Kashmir Valley has been discussed publicly. Some Dogri writers and prominent figures of the Jammu region and the Kangra and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh had some time ago raised the voice for the merger of Jammu area with Himachal Pradesh. However, the move died down as it did not get political support from either of the states.
The Gajendragadkar Commission and other committees recommended that steps should be taken to meet the aspirations of the people of Jammu at the political and administrative levels. However, most of these recommendations remain unimplemented.
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