Ansh Chowdhari
Apropos an article titled “Holiday on Hari Singh’s Birthday” that had written a year ago in this esteemed newspaper, I examined the controversy surrounding the Maharaja’s birthday in which I stated that “..I am too a bit ambiguous of the demand for a holiday, for I believe, it diminishes the relevance of the occasion and people tend to treat a day off as another day for excursion or try catching up to their pending personal works. I rather believe, that this day should be declared as the ‘MAHARAJA HARI SINGH DAY’ which can then be commemorated in our schools, colleges and government offices while neither drawing any ire of the naysayers nor compromising with the efficiency of the public offices. But that doesn’t mean that I completely abhor the possibility of a holiday…”.
But when I look at this issue a year down the line, I feel that this discontentment has reached a crescendo and now when the chips are down, people in Jammu have started reasserting their identity in a vociferous manner, hitherto uncommon. This has uncannily bred a deep trust deficit between the administration and the people in general as well as a Machiavellian spirit among the citizens, who remain highly suspicious of every government’s action vis-a-vis Jammu.
The BJP’s argument that they have fulfilled the objective by authorising a holiday on 26th October (Accession Day) is unconvincing because holidays, which are fundamentally a function of peculiarity, remain holidays for as long as that peculiarity exists. Hence, the BJP’s claim of granting a holiday on 26th October is a telling blunder, for it implicitly accepts the position that accession of J&K was different and was signed under strange circumstances and is therefore, a cause celebre for the people of J&K. Even otherwise there was no demand from any quarter for a holiday on this particular day. Continuing along the same vein, one can argue that why shouldn’t one then grant a holiday in other states too on their accession days, should they demand, as is being justified in J&K.
And admittedly, the larger issue, for me in particular, is not whether this government allots a holiday or not. I’m rather more concerned about the plight of the people protesting for their rights across different sectors and arenas. What concerns me more is this abstract apathy and indifference towards protesting masses.
Now, here I’ve tried to analyse this issue in the larger perspective where I believe that this movement is aiming to reassert an otherwise occluded political and cultural identity of Jammu by riding on the coattails of Maharaja Hari Singh and his rule that supposedly represented Jammu in the erstwhile state. He’s the one symbolic figure whose strident presence had guaranteed dignity and prestige for the Jammu Dogras. I see this as a positive development as it rakes up the local aspirations in the face of an extremely powerful central government and an unaccountable bureaucracy.
But unwittingly, it also tells a sordid saga of a failed regional leadership that remains unhinged from the larger issues of the masses and partakes in the plan to centralise the administration as much as possible, otherwise considered an anachronism in other modern democracies.
The vacuum thus created has engendered a significant disarray among the population and the larger discontent that it has begotten has made people to vent their scathing disapprobation of the administration. The cultural renaissance that people, especially Rajputs, had hoped for remains a far cry. The attrition- cultural and otherwise, that continues to govern the politics of this UT has fomented a peculiar cultural consciousness and in its wake the calls for regimentation have grown shriller in recent years, partly due to a mistaken belief of Jammu getting the longer rope post August 5 2019.
If seen from the perspective of our patron saint i.e., the ruling dispensation at the centre, then one can fairly assume that it’s going to be an uphill task for the people in power to acquiesce to the aforementioned demand, given the former is zealously striving to expand themselves beyond Pir Panjals, as was duly instructed by HM of the country in the recently concluded meeting with his party’s office bearers. But, are they willing to bear this opportunity cost in Jammu in favour of their cadre expansion in Kashmir? That’s a big question mark.
Panoramically, I can say that these issues are a subset of the larger problem for our region i.e., misrepresentation of Jammu. It has been going on for many years now with absolute impunity and unabashed indifference. Many such recent instances point towards certain blighted incidents where Jammu was deliberately labelled as Kashmir in an attempt to portray ‘normalcy’ and ‘development’ in Kashmir. J&K for them is a state that is Muslim-dominated and has one particular cultural identity, which is supposedly, not well integrated with the Indian union. This perception, howsoever limited in scope, has a wider acceptance among the people, for it suits the present government, as they secure an easy leeway to capitalize on the former’s insecurity without much ado or investment. This reveals that there’s a glaring myopia that plagues people vis-a-vis Jammu. For it to get the support it truly desires, it then seeks out a certain anchorage in mainland politics and that’s where our local issues get bundled within a national project.
This centralization is mainly aimed at placing Jammu at a lower rung while ensuring that Delhi and Kashmir keep on maintaining an even keel or, to use an idiomatic expression, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”. On the one hand, a Kashmiri campaign to obtain more power and autonomy is being combatted by a Delhi by maintaining a constant opposition to Kashmiri Muslim rule in the political landscape, while, on the other, Jammu has painted itself into the corner with little or no leverage at its disposal.
Navneeta Chadha Behera in her book has written that “The neglect and apathy of successive state governments towards Jammu’s political and economic development and the cental government’s valley-centric thinking has led to reassertion of its political aspirations.” The ineptitude leadership, regardless of their party affiliations, remains hand in glove in propagating such mayhem. And, in this crucible of one-upmanship, if a holiday does get sanctioned for the Maharaja, I’m not much sanguine if that would really usher any significant change with regards to our other challenges.
Only when Jammu comes out of its slavish mentality and the inferiority complex attached therewith, can it see a light at the end of this tunnel. Asking for a holiday is definitely not a solution to any problem that we are facing but it’s nonetheless a symptomatic urge for the people of this land who feel that their history has been staked for stoking an electoral push by disregarding their feelings and menacingly manipulating their gullibility. It’s time to remember what Prof Bhim Singh had said in his book ‘Jammu and Kashmir: The Blunders and Way out’,”Each region enjoys distinguished cultural, social, linguistic and geographical identity. The identity of each region has to be honoured in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution and the aspirations of its people. Each region has its aspiration to grow in freedom, peace and democracy.”
Follow our WhatsApp channel
