A REGION8217;S ANGST

Jammu has always seen Kashmir as having cornered all the benefits8212;and the attention

Jammu has always seen Kashmir as having cornered all the benefits8212;and the attention

It8217;s a story built on mutual distrust8212;one that has been playing out ever since Maharaja Hari Singh, the Dogra ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, decided to join the Indian state after prolonged bouts of indecision.

The Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state have always complained of being overshadowed by the more 8216;dominant8217; Kashmir. People in Jammu say that despite having the numbers Jammu has a population of 30 lakh compared to Kashmir8217;s 28, Kashmir has more seats in the assembly and Parliament See box.

The Praja Parishad movement of the fifties, where the slogan of Ek vidhan, Ek nishan one country, one flag was raised, was the first popular outburst against the alleged 8220;step-motherly treatment8221; to Jammu. J038;K is governed by Article 370, which grants it special powers and status, including a separate Constitution and state flag.

One of the sore points has been that Kashmir always gets favoured at the cost of Jammu and Ladakh regions when it comes to government jobs, implementation of infrastructure projects and allotment of finances.

In February 1998, Jammu witnessed another uprising against Kashmiri 8220;dominance8221;, the trigger being the alleged discrimination against candidates from Jammu in the selection process for MBBS and BDS. That agitation stretched for almost a month, forcing the then Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference government to order a probe.

The angst even took the shape of a demand by the Jammu and Kashmir National Front, a few years ago, for trifurcation of J038;K into two states8212;Jammu and Kashmir8212;and a Union territory of Ladakh. In 2001, the national council of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh RSS passed a resolution supporting the demand.

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In the 2002 Assembly elections, the RSS backed the Jammu State Morcha, a conglomerate of groups demanding statehood for Jammu. While the front won just one seat8212;Ashwani Sharma, a former Congress leader won from Bishnah8212;it managed a decent show in many Jammu seats.

Dr Varinder Gupta, a member of the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, said, 8220;How can anybody call this a communal agitation? Muslims of the Jammu region are fully behind us. The Muslim Federation, Jammu, is supporting us. The issue is that of unjustified dominance of Kashmir over Jammu, something that successive governments at the Centre are to be blamed for.8221;

Muslims of Jammu region, including those from Poonch and Rajouri districts both predominantly Muslim-majority areas, have from time to time opposed Kashmir region8217;s perceived dominance over Jammu. In fact, the co-convener of the Jammu Kashmir National Front, a group fighting for trifurcation of the state, is Abdul Rouf Ganai.