Conspiracy and Jammu

As Jammu Burned…
We must all be concerned. The prosperity of Jammu is assured as long as it’s wedded to Kashmir. So let there be no acrimony, comments Kundan Lal
‘Jammu is on fire. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is on the verge of a final breakup.’ These and many such pronouncements are seen and heard everywhere these days. These are either reckless exaggerations or a product of wishful thinking. First let us try to understand as to what constitutes Jammu. Again most of its definitions in fact define the ideological perceptions of those who attempt the definitions. The definers wish to have a Jammu of their own wishes or beliefs and are not bothered to see the ground realities as they exist today and shall continue to exist in the days and years to come unless of course something spectacular takes place in the political geography of this region.

To some perverted minds Jammu is a land of temples only. To them Jammu region which is now spread over ten districts means only kanakmandi and the areas surrounding it. The whole Jammu Pradesh or Rashtra is thus colored saffron and no other colors exist in the vibgyor of human society. Of course in addition to these exalted humans there are also some exalted animals to provide the spiritual company in this land of bliss. This type of insane mental disposition can and does conveniently overlook the demography of the Jammu region. Such perverted minds wish to dub all people living in these areas as dogras and ignore that dogras constitute a small minority of the population of this region. The majority of the population is composed of scheduled tribes (gujjar and bakerwals), non-scheduled tribes fighting for their scheduled tribe status (paharis), scheduled castes (harijan) and other ethnic and racial groups like Kashmiri, Sikhs, Pothoharies, and Punjabies etc. Even on religious lines the region is anything but a monolith. We have Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists in the population. On the basis of geography and climatic zones again the region shows extreme diversity. Languages, culture, customs - every area of human activity is marked by differences and these differences can neither be surmounted nor ignored.

This being the case what then is this ‘Jammu’ which is supposedly on fire and ready to be torn asunder as a result of an agitation launched for restoration of 800 kanals of land far away in the Kashmir valley to an organization which has to look after a cave shrine at best for two months a year? What then are the unstated motives behind this ruckus? Jammu can not aspire to be a separate state for it lacks linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious homogeneity. The carving out of a separate heterogeneous state can not be a solution to the perceived problems created by heterogeneity itself. You do not treat a person bitten by a snake by injecting venom. Then what is the agenda? Unfortunately even the best minds among us, the so called Jammuites do not know. We seem to have been too pathetically carried away by the din and noise on the streets of Jammu to understand and analyze the situation in a rational and reasonable way. What happened on the streets of Jammu city is in fact an unfolding of an agenda least known to us, the Jammuites. The agenda is laid by those who have been enjoying the hospitality of the people of Jammu for the last two decades now. Our very own Kashmiri pundits are at the bottom of this game. They are killing many birds with one arrow but they do not carry a bow. The innocent, good at heart people of Jammu are carrying the bow and shooting the arrows. What is the Kashmiri Pundit leadership up to? The answers are not too far to seek. From the days of migration the Kashmiri Pundit leadership has been trying, in every conceivable way, to pay back the Kashmiri Muslims for their perceived genocide and exodus. It is another matter that the genocide involved not more than a 100 people dead as per official data released by the Home Ministry. The KP leadership crisscrossed the entire globe with fake tales and opposed Kashmiri aspirations on every platform. They did everything they could to malign their compatriots and now they have used the last agniban (offence intended, Dr Agnishekhar).

They are not interested in the Amarnath shrine or the land. Had it been so they would have demanded full control over the shrine’s affairs by demanding an exclusive Kashmiri management of the shrine. Everyone in Kashmir would support such a management comprising exclusively of Kashmiri Pundits, of this and all other Kashmiri Pundit shrines. Such a management would perhaps find it much easier to improve the facilities for pilgrims as the goodwill of local Kashmiri Muslims would stand guaranteed. KP leadership on the other hand inducted the ‘Remove Vohra’ slogan in to the agitation for it fears the advent of Governor Vohra on the scene in Kashmir. Governor Vohra is not new to Kashmir politics or the Kashmir problem. Having played an important role as an interlocutor on Kashmir, he has his own advantages. Apparently, our KP friends do not want any movement whatsoever towards conflict resolution in Kashmir. They would definitely love to have a novice at the helm and if that novice has any bhagwa leanings, so much the better.

The present agitation in Jammu has to be seen in this perspective. It may still be possible for us - Jammu’s good at heart people - to see behind the scenes. It goes to our credit that we maintained very good relations with Kashmiri Muslims even when things were very difficult. We maintained peace even when there were grave provocations such as an attack on the Raghunath temple.

Who is then today asking Kashmiri Muslims to leave Jammu? It can not be us, the people of Jammu. It is in fact the KP leadership who has already begun rejoicing on the possibility of taking revenge. But those among the KP’s who know the people of Jammu, also know that we are capable of seeing the whole game and will rise to the occasion and not allow ourselves to be used as bows for shooting someone else’s arrows. Jammu has a stake in peace. We cannot and will not allow ourselves to be treated as pawns in a dirty game. Jammu has over the years seen a new growth on every front. It is fast emerging as a hub of great economic activity. It is on the threshold of a new and modern age. It is poised to be a centre for excellence in every sphere of life, a cultural and intellectual capital, perhaps next only to Delhi and Lahore in this part of the sub-continent. We can not fritter away our energies for the sake of satisfying the ego of a handful of irrelevant political orphans. Those who feel and preach that a total separation from Kashmir shall cure all ills, should remind themselves of the economic, political and social fallouts of such an utopian dream. The sooner the futility of this exercise is realized the better for all of us. Jammu will survive, thrive, grow and prosper only as long as it remains firmly wedded to Kashmir.
It has a great future as long as it allows a pluralistic society to thrive on its land. The moment Jammu loses its multi-ethnic character it shall cease to grow. The state of Jammu and Kashmir shall continue to be an inseparable part of the Indian Union as long as Jammu remains inseparable from Kashmir.