Rajan Gandhi
Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his public speeches at M A M Stadium during State Assembly elections had said that there was a feeling among the people of Jammu region that they have been discriminated against and have not been given their rightful share in development. His exact words were, “I have worked for my organization for many years in Jammu and Kashmir. Whenever I would come to Jammu, I was told the region has been discriminated against and deprived of its rightful share in development.” Our PM has kept his words and the recent roll of GST signifies the changing policy shift to nation first.
Previous Governments had repeatedly failed to get both regions of Jammu and Kashmir on board resulting in major agitations in one region or the other. The political and administrative set up between the state and the Indian union brought about in 1947, proved conducive to regional priorities. Right from that day a perception about political dominance of one region and the allocations of resources to the Jammu region remains perpetually disproportionate. When in 1951 Sheikh Abdullah Government delinked Jammu and Kashmir from the census operations conducted that year throughout the country and ignored the fact that lots of changes had undergone in the state’s demographic landscape owing to the migration of over one lakh refugees from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well with the migration of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs from valley to Jammu region and delimitation of resultant constituencies for the legislative assembly were in an irrational way. Thus Praja Parishad launched the first major agitation of Jammu in 1952. This agitation set the tone for protest politics of Jammu region. The fact which led to the agitation was the manipulation and getting nomination papers of the candidates belonging to Praja Parishad for the first Assembly elections rejected on very trivial and flimsy grounds. Further the protest manifested against the Delhi Agreement of 1952 signed between the Central Government and State Government led by Sheikh Abdullah which accepted the special status of the state provided for the basis of its future relationship with the centre. The Praja Parishad launched the agitation under the slogan of “Ek Pradhan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Nishan” (one president, one constitution and one symbol .They demanded that there should be complete extension of Constitution of India to the state and there should be no separate flag of the state. After this failed agitation, alleged regional discrimination emerged which ultimately led to under development of the one region. Allocation of funds was not managed keeping in view regional aspirations of all the regions. The story of neglect of roads, rural electrification, irrigation facilities, power generation, tourism etc. in one particular region was common.
The resentment exploded again in Jammu when four demonstrating students were killed in police firing on October 16-17, 1967 against the shifting of Agricultural and Ayurvedic Colleges to Srinagar which were to be established at Jammu. Once again major agitation in 1978 emanated from Poonch district as a protest against irregularities in the appointment of teachers in Poonch. The period of 1967 to 1990 witnessed the emergence of a number of outfits which included Panthers Party, Jammu Mahasabha , Jammu People Front and Jammu Mukti Morcha but all in the name of the people of Jammu region. The State Government set up four commissions to placate the people of Jammu as well as to look into the demand for the creation of more districts in the state namely the Gajendragadkar Commission (1967), the Qadri Commission (1972), the Sikri Commission (1979), and Wazir Commission (1981). The Gajendragadkhar Commission reported injustice to the Jammu region and recommended several steps to ensure Jammu and Ladakh’s effective and real participation in the state’s political and economic processes. The recommendations of the Gajendragadkar Commission included division of the functions of each head of department on a regional basis, creation of regional recruitment boards, establishment of university for Jammu region, opening of a separate medical college at Jammu, introduction of `a uniform prices of food grains throughout the state and uniformity in the quantum of the food grains issued.
Again in 1987, NC Government’s bid to move the century old durbar move to Kashmir permanently kicked up regional passions in Jammu region. The Bar Association of Jammu headed 37 days long agitation.1990 saw the migration of Kashmiri pundits from valley which further changed the demography of both Jammu and Kashmir. In February, 1998 discrimination in selection of students from Jammu region to MBBS/BDS list of Jammu and Kashmir State led another phase of resentment and agitations .The respective agitations of the Praja Parishad, the JMM and JSM had failed to mobilize mass support for separate Jammu state. These organizations were repeatedly founded by group of intellectuals who had limited social base confined to Jammu district only. Again in 2008 passions flared up once again when Congress Governments at centre and state played in the hands of Kashmir centric politicians leading to Shri Amarnath yatra protest and result was more than three months agitation and this remains the most successful agitation till date which ultimately shifted the power balance back to Jammu. Efforts of local leaders along with public support resulted in historic Shri Amarnath accord.
In present scenario, with the passage of GST , Jammu and Kashmir has also become part of One Nation One Tax Regime despite opposition from separatists , some Kashmir trading organizations but the present PDP- BJP Government got full support from Jammu traders , public and all sensible masses from Kashmir also. Though the opposition tried it’s best to scuttle GST resolution on frivolous issues by misleading the public but the Government especially PDP did not fall in their trap and kept the national and state’s interests above all. It is really heartening to see MLA Er. Rashid countered and challenged by ruling alliance especially from PDP benches. As rightly pointed out earlier by our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley , that States that do not sign on to GST will not get the benefit of compensation for revenue loss for the first five years. Missing out on GST would have impacted the State’s trade and industry as already traders and industrial units have started suffering as industrial units have stopped production due to no interstate movement of raw materials and finished good. Retrenchment of employees was going to be next move. Without GST and no further business activity, they would have been unable to pay bank interest, term loan interest and installments, power bills and other Government dues, wages and other related expenses of the industrial sector. Non implementation of GST would have sent a negative message to all the industrialists who have invested crores and scope of further investments would have been impossible with the fear that our special state will not implement the polices of rest of the India. With one master stroke all the apprehensions have been put to rest and everybody has heaved a sigh of relief.
The way both Central and State Governments have been able to implement GST in Jammu and Kashmir has once again exhibited the mature approach of both the Governments who with patience and perseverance got the bill passed without leading to any major confrontation and showdown. Government has been able to clear the apprehensions of the opposition to some extent and instead of being mute spectator to the suffering of masses; PDP-BJP Government has implemented GST in the state so that we are also part of success story of Nation. Jubilant trader community, Jammu and Kashmir masses can be seen congratulating each other on all social media platforms which shows how deeply public sentiments were involved and how important it is set the ball rolling without any further delay. Government of India has rightly put its foot down and avoided war of words but got implemented GST in Jammu and Kashmir without much hue and cry and to the satisfaction of all stake holders. This will strengthen the alliance of PDP-BJP to further concentrate on the welfare of public collectively and take our state to new heights of prosperity.
“It is much more worthwhile to implement only one bright idea than collecting thousands of them.”
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