When Omar Abdullah takes over as the new Chief Minister for a second time, one of his bigger challenges will be to figure out how to give representation to the Jammu region, more particularly to the Dogra community, which is distinct from the Kashmiri community.
Jammu region in the recently concluded assembly elections, voted overwhelmingly for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The National Conference (NC) did win some seats from the region, but these were only from Muslim-dominated areas.
The NC has a lone Hindu legislator Surinder Chaudhary, who defeated the state BJP president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera in the Jammu region.
J&K once was a fully “autonomous” state under the Dogra rulers. It was founded by Maharaja Gulab Singh, who organised and held it as a geographical and political entity after the Treaty of Amritsar was signed between him and the East India Company.
It may be one of the rarest cases, rather a unique case in history, that once a fully autonomous “princely” state has been reduced to a status of “union territory” (UT).
It was the second-largest princely state in India after Hyderabad during the British Raj.
Omar Abdullah’s situation would be akin to that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, vis-à-vis the main minority community in the UT.
Taking cues from PM Modi
Omar should take a cue from the Prime Minister as to how to take indifference or opposition in his stride.
At the national level, an overwhelming majority of the largest minority community voted against the BJP,
Similarly, in Kashmir, the largest minority community voted against the NC. While the BJP won at the Centre, the NC won in J&K.
At the Centre, the problem is not as complicated, as there are multiple mechanisms to give representation to all sections of society. Besides, the state governments can also draw a balance between the different communities.
In J&K, the onus is completely on the “local” government of the UT.
The voting pattern in the UT has beyond any doubt been on communal lines and, to some extent also reflected regional polarisation.
The Muslim-dominated Kashmir region overwhelmingly voted for the NC.
The Hindu majority Jammu region, mostly voted for the BJP, which lost in some Muslim majority pockets there.
This has created a challenging situation for the new government and the new Chief Minister.
The fact is that one of the important communities, the Dogras, and the equally important regions will remain unrepresented in the new government.
Voting along different lines
It’s not that the two regions have not voted along different lines in the past. Before the advent of the BJP in Jammu region, it was the Congress, which walked away with most of the seats.
The NC would manage to get a few seats and when it formed the government, some of the elected legislators would make it to the ministry.
Besides, prior to August 2019 when Article 370 was repealed, J&K had a bicameral legislature, as there used to be a Legislative Council also.
The governments would give representation to the prominent representatives of the region in the Legislative Council, which would compensate for their absence in the Legislative Assembly.
As of now the Legislative Council stands disbanded. There are very few states in the country with bicameral legislature, as the majority of the states do not have legislative council.
Omar Abdullah has made a strong case for restoring the Legislative Council, as the Congress had done in its manifesto.
The Council may or may not be restored, but even if and when that's doneit may provide the requisite representation to the Jammu region.
However, the moot point remains whether mere token representation in the government will address the aspirations of the Jammu region, which is geographically, linguistically, culturally and now politically far different from the Kashmir Valley.
There appears to be no meeting ground between the two regions.
Jammu, a separate state?
There have been demands in the past for a separate statehood for the Jammu region, like there was a long pending demand for a separate UT of the Ladakh region.
While Ladakh became a UT, Jammu remains “appended” to Kashmir.
It is ironic that post-1947, Jammu had to play second fiddle to the Kashmir region.
That is likely to be repeated once again and most probably with lead to a lot of “alienation” in the Jammu region among its population and possible demand for separate statehood.
While as the Chief Minister of the “entire” UT, Omar will publicly keep on repeating and reiterating that there will be no discrimination with the Jammu region, but idealistic proclamations rarely get translated into practical realities and that too when the region will not be represented in the government.
There may be some “token representation” by way of one or two ministers, but that will hardly address the aspirations of the people of the Jammu region.
People of Jammu have already asserted their separate and distinct political identity from Kashmir.
As the J&K government will press for the restoration of statehood, with reports of the first cabinet meeting passing the first resolution to this effect, there might well be a demand for separate statehood for the Jammu region, which will be very difficult to resist for a long time.
The states across the country have mostly been carved out on the basis of linguistic identity.
Regions in J&K have different languages, different culture and different geography from each other. From those yardsticks people of Jammu, if and when they start raising the demand for a separate state, will have a strong case and that will be a tricky situation for both the Centre as well as the UT government of J&K as two separate states will not be in the strategic interests of the country.
The government of India will need to ensure that the people of the Jammu region are not made to play second fiddle to the Kashmir region because the former are patriotic and nationalists.
Their patriotism and nationalism must not be taken for granted.
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