The debate over abrogation of Article 370 has brought to fore the issues bothering the people, especially those from Jammu region.
They nurture the feeling that despite constitutional changes, nothing has changed on ground zero for them.
Deprivation and discrimination is what remains in store for them, they feel.
Mannat Raina, Student JU: Immediately after the revocation of Article 370 last year, two new Union Territories were carved out of the erstwhile J&K State i.e J&K and Ladakh. Unlike Ladakh, the BJP led NDA Government restrained itself for not even considering Jammu as a separate State, which most of the Jammuites would have liked, but herein comes the geo-politics. As soon as the Article 370 was abrogated both the provinces were deprived of their much needed rights, one being the 4G internet which certainly violated the fundamentals rights, well-written in the constitution.
Had the Jammu been made a separate State, its people would have not have suffered considering zero demands of any sort of freedom from India with their utmost allegiance to its constitution. Now the Centre is giving equal treatment to people of both the provinces to satisfy entities like United Nation so as to not look biased at the end of the day. How long does this tagging along go? This tagging along has been in play since long and has led to a vast amount of discrimination, the Jammu people had to face.
There are many areas where Jammu people felt discriminated and most important among them are J&K Bank recruitment scam where people linked with the then ruling political parties were given priority.
Roshini Act, where the then ruling parties promised ownership of about 20 lakh kanals of land to occupants to earn Rs 25,000 crore to be invested in commissioning hydro electric projects. The scam got public when only Rs 76 crore has been released from the transfer of encroached land between 2007 and 2013. The ruling parties were alleged to have given lands to people of their interest and it shares a vast portion in Jammu too.
Installation of new toll plazas has been another burning issue.
The recent land laws where now every citizen from any remote corner of the country can buy land in J&K is also debatable. Identity crisis is what Jammu people most certainly fear and Kashmiris as well. Now every person from across the country can access to domicile of J&K who are already living here for past few years.
Promises made by the Union Government prior to the revocation of Art 370 were mere eyewash to hoodwink people by announcing 50,000 jobs, arrival of private sector and industrialisation. Artificial lake to attract tourism in Jammu is nowhere in the picture. The list is endless
The only solution to end discrimination — the statehood– needs to be restored and prior to the restoration, the much awaited step like delimitation needs to be exercised to give Jammu Province an equal representation in Legislative Assembly so as to not stand as a tag along.
Sushil Sudan, President Jammu Kashmir Medical Employees Federation & Member Pharmacy Council of India: Articles 370 and 35A were not in interest of the country, as these only benefitted Kashmir population and we should not forget that under the garb of special status, the Kashmiri leaders used to blackmail the Centre and maximum funds were routed to Kashmir and Jammu was always neglected on all fronts.
The so called leaders of Kashmir even threatened in the past that if Articles 370 and 35A would be abrogated then J&K will not remain the part of India. The former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had threatened before August, 2019 that nobody in Kashmir will hold national tricolour.
Even National Conference president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and former CM Omar Abdullah were also blackmailing on same lines. That means, these leaders were getting benefits due to existence of Article 370.
Therefore, in view of above, abrogation of Article 370 was absolutely necessary in the national interest. No doubt, the benefits for Jammuities are not in light but in the long run we should expect good results in terms of employment, development, road connectivity and others.
Government should introduce certain schemes so that the unemployed youth get jobs. Some schemes are already introduced which includes One Nation One Ration Card, One Nation One Tax, Ayushman Bharat and many more.
The Government must understand that offering of jobs to surrendered terrorists has not yielded any results in the past as they have no religion and such anti-national elements should be dealt with iron hands, so that they don’t dare to play with the sovereignty of India.
The Union Government should also ensure that interest of public in respect of land, employment and other things are taken care besides restoration of statehood is ensured at the earliest. In nutshell, if we demand restoration of Article 370 then so called leaders of Kashmir region shall have upper hand and they will again loot J&K for their own benefits.
Som Nath Sharma, Retd Govt Employee: August 5, 2019 will remain a historic day in the history of India. It was a welcome step which nurtured new hopes in residents of Jammu and Kashmir. Since, long for the sake of their own vested interests, the so-called leaders did nothing for the youth of Jammu. Jammu region was always neglected by the previous governments in all respects. But it is unfortunate that even after the abrogation of Article 370, nothing on ground level changed and Jammu is still facing the neglect with no Jobs and no development. New laws imposed are not acceptable by the Jammu people and centre should consider this that we do not lose our special status to see all this drama and dictatorship. The need of the hour is that centre should insert provisions in the laws relating to land to ensure, guarantee and safeguard the local culture, identity, rights on land holdings, property and jobs to the local population.