Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo
The doyen of the Praja Parishad movement, which gave a national identity to Jammu, Pandit Premnath Dogra was a great leader and visionary of all time. His vision represented by the famous socio-political slogan of “Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan” reached every home in the then J&K state and caught the imagination of the people during the early fifties of the last century; and people went to any extent to follow their sincere, honest and dynamic leader.
His appeal in course of time made Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, a tall national leader and the founder of All India Jan Sangh, to decide to come to Jammu & Kashmir by defying the permit entry system, prevalent in those days in the erstwhile state. He did so successfully, was arrested by the Sheikh Abdullah regime, taken to Srinagar and kept in a temporary jail there at Gulmarg where he paid the ultimate price for breaking the absurd law of the land. His unfortunate and premature death remains a mystery even today.
The abrogation of Article 370/35A on 5-6 August 2019 by the Parliament of the country, followed by the declaration of the new land laws this year by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir realises the cherished dream of Pt. Premnath Dogra. It undoubtedly gives a soothing relief and peace to the noble soul of the tallest nationalist leader of Jammu & Kashmir by converting his dreams and vision into a reality.
This is the real tribute to the memory of the great leader of Praja Parishad movement; and everybody needs to understand it in an appropriate context. In order to understand things in perspective, one needs to also understand the logic of reciprocity, equal rights for all citizens and the doctrine of ‘one nation-one law’.
Unfortunately for the regions of Ladakh and Jammu, both these regions reeled under the supremacy of Kashmir division all these past seven decades. The political narrative of Kashmir centric leaders and the political parties would be followed in Jammu and Ladakh sometimes by choice, many a time by compulsion and at some instances even by ‘conviction’ & ‘sheer simplicity’.
The disgruntled elements under the banner of Gupkar-Circus in the Kashmir valley tried their luck this time as well. The befitting reply of the leaders of Ladakh warning them to ‘keep off their hands from Ladakh’ is a well-timed caution to all in Jammu and Kashmir. Their stand is not only appreciable but also worthy to be followed by the people of the Jammu region.”
The new land laws introduced through a Gazette notification need to be seen as the logical implication of the abrogation of Article 35A and 370. It ought to have been understood clearly that the days of one-way traffic were over. When the people of Jammu and Kashmir can have properties and assets all over India, how can the same rights be denied to others from different states in the scheme of equal rights for all in our Constitution. The ‘Gupkaris’ and their accomplices in Jammu region should first abandon all their acquired properties in places like Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Kochi, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkatta and Bangalore etc. and then advocate their one-way traffic theory on the moral grounds.
The developments taking place after 5-6 August 2019 are opening new vistas for creation of jobs, opportunities for economic upliftment and competition. The younger generation has started thinking in context of living in the UT for whole of their life with new opportunities getting shape with the new announcements being made.
Jammu region, by and large, has remained oriented into a nationalistic, secular and patriotic narrative & fervour all along. Even when Pandit Birbal Dhar went to the Lahore Darbar along with his son Rajakak Dhar to persuade Maharaja Ranjeet Singh to extend his rule to Kashmir in 1819, Raja Gulab Singh, the then one of the generals of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, volunteered to be a part of the expedition of the army. ‘The Maharaja then sent over 30,000 troops in charge of Pt. Birbal Dhar to invade Kashmir (ruled by Jabar Khan). The troops were commanded by Raja Gulab Singh, Diwan Misr Chand, Sirdar Hari Singh, Jwala Singh Padania, Hukum Singh and others’. This was a joint expedition of the Sikhs, Kashmiri Pandits and Dogras in which the forces of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh defeated the Afghan Pathans at Pir Panchal and on the plateau of Shopian and the rule of Lahore Darbar got extended up to the extreme of the Kashmir valley. With this ended the foreign and alien rule in Kashmir valley after a gap of almost 500 years.
The Dogra rule was established in Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 due to the sharp diplomatic, political and statesmanship acumen of Maharaja Gulab Singh who promised to pay the amount of “indemnification of war” to the Britishers as per the provisions of the Treaty of Lahore and Treaty of Amristar. He was asked to pay a sum of Rupees one crore which could have enabled him to be the ruler of all the areas up to Karakoram falling on the east and north of river Ravi. Since he could muster a sum of Rupees seventy five lakh only, accordingly the areas of Chamba and Kangra were not included in his state of Jammu and Kashmir, consequently. Technically speaking, Maharaja Gulab Singh acquired the then state of Jammu and Kashmir for his nation, India, in the most tumultuous period from 1819 to 1849. The treachery of 1947 by Congress, Nehru, Sheikh Abdullah and Mountbaton took away the whole credit from the Jammu region and made the Abdullahs the hero of the crisis and the consequent beneficiary by default.
The change of political narrative due to the change of the government at the centre in 2014 has with the passage of time brought the hidden facts on the surface. The truth can’t be overshadowed or underplayed for long. Truth speaks its language even from the graves. However, the graves stand opened, so has eventually the truth come out, slowly and steadily. It is the fear of the truth that has started to come out that the Kashmir centric leaders are trying to disuade and ditch Jammu region once again, in order to repeat 1947. They want to prove that their one hundred year old communal, partisan and sectarian political narrative has its acceptability at a larger level. These Kashmir centric leaders have lost their sheen even among their followers in the Kashmir valley and they have been squeezed into the Gupkar Enclave for the last one and a half years.
The opposition and the seemingly storm against the new land laws in J&K are deliberate and motivated by self interests and hood-winking the public opinion. Jammu and Ladakh regions have been leading the nationalist narrative always and ever. In context of history and the ground realities, the people in these two regions in particular and the people in the erstwhile J&K state in general need a better argument to deny the right to land to a Jawan of the Indian army and/or a soldier of the paramilitary forces who sheds his or her blood for every inch of the land in Jammu and Kashmir. Mind it, they have been doing so since the early morning of 27th October 1947 when their first aeroplane landed at Srinagar airport (temporarily built during the night by the army and the RSS volunteers jointly in the Kashmir valley), consequent upon signing of Instrument of Accession.
Land laws are temporary in nature and remain changing as per the need of the time but what is permanent is the national will to uphold the national honour in every corner of the nation despite and inspite of opposition and ‘hallabol’ by the vested interests. The dreams of the nationalists and the great patriots like Sardar Patel, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Pt. Premnath Dogra and Brig. Rajinder Singh can’t be allowed to go unattended through the annals of history. The history needs to be rewritten with a new and fresh inputs by the efforts of the current generations to usher a new era of hope, confidence, economic opportunities for all, political emancipation and empowerment to the neglected ones and the social upliftment of the underprivileged, needy and deserving in accordance with the dreams of our great men of history.
Pt. Premnath Dogra was a glaring inspiration for thousands and lakhs during his time in whole of the J&K state and that is why hundreds of well educated young men and women came out as whole timers to join the then struggle launched by him. His dreams and vision have a very rich value for the country as a whole and for the Jammu region as a special case. It is for the Jammu region to come up to the expectation to realise his dreams to the core and prove to the world at large that Pandit Ji’s vision ultimately triumphed.
(Feedback: ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)
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