Separate Statehood for Jammu

Chetan Prabhakar
Is the demand for a separate statehood for Jammu and two UTs of Kashmir unreasonable and unjustified? Let us examine how many states have been separated till today and why they were separated? Ladakh was separated from Jammu & Kashmir and UT of Ladakh was made. Telangana was declared a separate state. Other examples are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. The reasons for these to be declared as separate states are given below:
Ladakh UT: The people of Ladakh had been demanding Ladakh to be constituted as a Union Territory because of perceived unfair treatment by Kashmir and Ladakh’s cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley.
Telangana: The demand was to merge all the Telugu-speaking areas into one state. Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs among others.
Jharkhand: The demand for the state of Jharkhand was proposed for Jharkhand to be constituted as a tribal state in Eastern India. All Jharkhand Students Union spearheaded the movement for a separate state of Jharkhand and introduced elements of violence in the movement and called for a boycott of the election.
Chhattisgarh: A well-organised movement was never launched. This was a statehood without movement. The main reason for separation was that the Chhattisgarh region was prosperous and used to compensate for the poverty of other regions of Madhya Pradesh and also, the state was formed by the partition of ten Chhattisgarhi and six Gondi-speaking districts.
Uttarakhand: The main objective was to solve social and economic problems of the hill region and uplift the backwards and oppressed people of the area. In addition to the local general reforms, certain political objectives were added in the demand of Uttarakhand.
All the elements and reasons which lead to the demands for separation of above-mentioned states, among others, are also present in the demand for separate statehood for Jammu. The demand for separate statehood for Jammu and two UTs of Kashmir includes the following popular reasons:
The erratic growth of Jammu and Kashmir can be attributed to the armed terrorism in Kashmir valley in the past decade. The economy is also marked by low productivity in agriculture and allied sectors that have affected employment generation and growth in per capita income. Also, poor infrastructure has resulted in the undeveloped industrial sector. A lack of well-defined strategy, good governance, and sound fiscal management have further affected economic growth in the state.
Most of the times, Kashmir is closed either due to terrorism or weather conditions. Due to terrorism in the region, the tourism business of the Kashmir valley is also erratic, due to which contribution of revenue form Kashmir region is also less as compared to Jammu region as Jammu region is the major hub of commercial activities including pilgrimage of Mata Vaishna Devi Shrine which contributes more revenue in the state exchequer. As Chhattisgarh region used to compensate for the poverty of other regions of Madhya Pradesh and in a similar vogue, prosperity of Jammu region is used to compensate Kashmir valley and also major part of the funds allocated to the J&K UT are given to the Kashmir Valley.
Similarly, as the case of Telangana, Jammu region also faces injustices in the distribution of budget allocations and jobs. This disparity started from time Jammu and Kashmir accessed to India wherein the central government always wooed Kashmir and ignored Jammu people and this disparity further continued and encouraged due to erroneous Census 2011. As said by Ex-Governor of erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir Late Shri Jagmohan Malhotra, ‘had we not forgotten that India’s destiny lay in unity amidst diversity, not in bowing before the bullies but in standing erect with a sense of purpose, not in creating vote banks for exploiting democracy, but in providing real democracy, real justice and real freedom? Had we not permitted the forces of medievalism and monkism to prevail? And what precautionary steps did we take to minimize the damage that the storm of Islamic fundamentalism was bound to cause?’
Also, as stated by Ankur Sharma, Chairman, Ekkjutt Jammu, ‘the census 2011 is also erroneous as Kashmir’s population has been shown to increase by 14,11,000 in 10 years from 2001 to 2011. While the fact is that in 2002, the number of voters in Jammu were more than Kashmir by 1.41 lakh. It is also the average population growth of Jammu province, which was 31% between 1971 to 2001, dropped to 21% in 2011, and due to migration within and outside the state on account of Hindu and Sikh genocide in Kashmir, the percentage growth in Kashmir’s population should have been lower but it grew by 26% post 1991. As Delimitation at this stage and that too on the basis of an erroneous Census would become a cause of ruin of Jammu and further consolidate and strength subversives, separatists and Jihadists forces which will aid in terrorism and further perpetuate J&K as a non-secular, theocratic Muslim domain part from the rest of India. The erroneous Census 2011 was aimed to destroy Dogra Hindus politically, socially, culturally and economically and create the basic foothold for demographic Jihad in Jammu.
It is also not out of place to mention here how Kashmir Pandits were victimized and marginalized. How they were compelled to leave Kashmir and become migrants. Till today, they are waiting for the time to settle back to Kashmir. Can anybody form Jammu region settle in Kashmir, however, people from Kashmir easily get settled in Jammu. The colonies in the periphery of Jammu are evidence of the same. Is there any such colony of people from Jammu in Kashmir?
To accept the demand of reorganising the state by dividing Kashmir into two UTs and granting full statehood to Jammu seems to be the only way to take abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A to its logical conclusion. It will help in releasing the people of Jammu from the grip of untoward circumstances of disturbance, violence and disparity for which they are not at all responsible. Among others, the demand of Jammu is also a comparable case as of the people of Ladakh who had been demanding Ladakh to be constituted as a union territory because of perceived unfair treatment by Kashmir and Ladakh’s cultural differences with predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley. In Kashmir & Jammu, there are a lot of cultural differences such as language, religion, eating habits and others.
In view of the aforesaid more serious reasons, than, the other already separated States had. Is the demand of separate statehood for Jammu region not more important and essential? Will this not help in nullifying the dominance of Kashmir based political parties in Jammu region? Will this not help in bringing back the Kashmiri Pandits to their origin? And will this not bring a season of growth, parity, peace and prosperity for the people of Jammu region?
(The author is an Advocate of Jammu High Court)

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