Sushil Sharma
After a wait of decades, Jammu is emerging as a pivot in the national politics ,away from the shadows of the past . The man leading the process is Devender Singh Rana , one of the most promising leaders in the Himalayan region , to initiate a narrative for Jammu , the yearning for which was going on since independence but none dared to cross the threshold for various reasons.
Devender Rana who is in politics for the past over two decades , during which he served as lawmaker in both the houses of the erstwhile state legislature and raised his voice for the cause of Jammu is now in the centre of the national attention for he has chosen to create a narrative for Jammu that the people in the region had been aspiring for ages . He has distinguished himself as a leader, who despite being in National Conference of which he is the provincial president of Jammu at the time of the writing , by speaking for all the religions, sub regions and demographics of the region , and more outstanding is that his quest for Jammu narrative is not against any other region.
Jammu, let it be said and it should be heard loud and clear, is one of the most important regions in the country , especially after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A. It is from here where the nationalistic narrative of the rest of the country and aspirations of the people of Jammu converge .That, in turn, will deliver a message to the whole nation , particularly the Valley that has always been viewed as a conflict zone where violence rears and ruptures the narratives . Jammu is the only place that can help build a narrative of oneness for the whole of Jammu and Kashmir , and the leader who stands tall among all is Devender Rana because of his outreach to the communities and acceptability across the regions , not just confined to the geographical boundaries of Jammu region.
At this point in time , why Rana has become so critical to the politics of Jammu, that, as already stated will have its impact across Jammu and Kashmir and also the nation? Over two decades in politics , he has built up personal connect with the masses that enabled him to survive tornadoes that hit Jammu and Kashmir on various occasions . That masses have found in him a man who is selfless and with a vision for each and everyone . His vision stems from his education and experiences with the grassroots at the ground level. He, as someone remarked quite emphatically , is the man who never sleeps when it comes to the work for the people.
The speculations swirling around him are that he is quitting National Conference , if it turn into a reality, it will have serious repercussions for the party and all those who believed in its ideology of Hindu-Muslim- Sikh unity . Not that the NC would be experiencing such a departure for the first time, there have been many occasions when stalwarts left the party . They were looking for political fortunes . Who can miss July 1984 in the history when a group of 14 lawmakers left the party to become ministers in a Government . Devender Rana is not looking at any such prospects , because there is a thick fog of political uncertainty that nothing can be said as to who would come to power and when . Instead, he has devoted himself to “ Jammu declaration”, which speaks of the aspirations of Jammu with an inclusive Jammu and Kashmir. It is not anti-Kashmir, it is simply Jammu oriented which encompasses all the regions and religions. But the pivot is Jammu .
National Conference stands to lose a lot if he quit the party . Not just a leader with deep acceptability among masses would be parting ways , it would also spell out loss of a strong and bold voice that spoke for the values of humanism, democracy and for all communities and ethnicities from Kathua to Kupwara . He is the one who has rubbed shoulders with tallest political leader of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah even when the latter was out of power. The party leadership should have realised consequences of his quitting the party- demoralization in the cadre that saw Rana as the one who spoke for them and always played out their grievances before the leadership.
There were occasions when he struck a note of dissent for the overall well-being of the party and the state . National Conference will learn what it has lost once he moves out of the party , and it is not just a matter of conjecture , because the political observers see him moving out of the party sooner than later.
These speculations have also thrown in the public domain the idea of his joining the BJP. In that case, Rana would be bringing to the party much needed face and voice of connectivity with the masses and strengthening the idea of India in Jammu and Kashmir. There exist many challenges to this idea in Jammu and Kashmir, and for that what is needed is a man of conviction , who can speak out his mind against all odds. If an example is needed , in one of the sessions of the People’s Alliance For Gupkar declaration where he was present for the first and last time late last year , he had declared that there would be no compromise with the national interest. Farooq Abdullah, who also is president of PAGD , was prompted to say that the Alliance was not against the nation . That he stood for the cause of Jammu is established by the fact that he took a delegation of Jammu NC leaders to Srinagar on the eve of the All-Party Meeting in New Delhi on June 24, where he aired all the concerns pertaining to Jammu and and wanted the party leadership to relay the same at the APM.
BJP, if he joins this party, will receive proverbial shot in the arm . There is a new path that he can lay out for the party in J&K as per the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which the development and humanity are placed at the highest pedestal. He can be brand ambassador of party’s ideology of nationalism and Modi’s mantra of “ Sab ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas.”
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