A Page from History : What I saw in Jammu-III

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Vol. V, No. 31    Falgun 14, 2008, March 17, 1952     Four Annas – Air-/4/6

Communalism and Provincialism
In Services, scholarships, Rehabilitation, Everything
The impression is very widespread that the Abdullah Government is an aggressively Kashmiri Muslim Government Perhaps Shaikh Abdullah’s conscious hatred of the Dogra Ex-Maharaja is responsible for his unconscious prejudice against all Dogras i.e.  people of Jammu Kashmir in crisis can ill-afford such an approach to the people’s  problems.
Men outside the State have been made to believe that Kashmir is a Muslim State and that anything which displeases the Muslims would jeopardize our good relations with Kashmir. A part from its communalism, such a statement does not have the merit of even factual correctness. Kashmir’s fifteen lacs are mostly Muslims. But Jammu’s thirteen lacs are again mostly Muslims. But Jammu’s thirteen lacs are again mostly Hindus And  among Ladakh’s  two lacs the  percentage of Muslims is lower than in any other part of  bharat.
These being the facts the Hindus expect     something like  equality with Muslims. In territorial  terms in would mean  an approximate equality between Jammu and Ladakh on the one hand and Kashmir on the other, But the  new trends surprise them. Their communalism and provincialism is patent.
Take for instance the  composition of the cabinet. Out of six ministers only one Girdharilal –is a Hindu. He is the only representative of Jammu in the cabinet!
This discrimination cuts deep and all round, reaching down to menial ranks. The state Secretariat employs something like 350 men. O these only thirty five are Hindus. While Shaikh Sahib had thus no place for Kashmir Hindu refugees. He found space enough to accommodate 500 Chinese Muslim families in Kashmir   Valley ! Without reference to New Delhi he gave naturalization rights –a central subject to these Chinese Muslims.
10,000 Hindu refugees from Bhimbar, Mirpur and Poonch have like wise been refused rehabilitation within the State. For four years they have rotted in the Yo1 Camp in East Punjab. And now the  Government has ordered them to go to  Bikaner and Bhopal-for rehabilitation, of course! Abdullah has no place for them.
The slightest Criticism against the Conference Government is considered treason Last May there eas a famine in Tehsil Padar, district Doda, Jammu, The tehsil Praja Parishad Secretary, Shri Sant Ram listed 8 names of famine victims in the Jammu weekly Gulab and appealed to the Government for early relief. Even though everybody knew about the famine and the police records showed as many as 100 deaths from Starvation, the Government ordered the prosecution of Sant Ram under KD Rule 29-section 505 IPC! It was only after a grueling 10-month trial that he was finally acquitted in the first week of March!                    

Urdu and Communists

(Shri Ganga Singh of BHU Banaras)
In Banaras South, from where one of  their provincial leaders, Rustam Sailm, was a candidate, the Communists concentrated their whole energy and even collected workers from other provinces to work especially among Muslims and Bengalis. They created all sorts of mischief in the name  of Hindi ‘imperialism over Urdu and Bengali.
To Hindus they said ‘The Government is very slow. It is not quick in replacing English, a foreign language, by Hindi. If we are voted we shall do it very soon.”
To Muslims they said “ This Sampurnanand  is a communalist. He wants to up root Urdu. How can we tolerate this? Urdu is the people’s language. It has been the court language in this country for centuries. How can we see it being destroyed? Vote for us and we will make Urdu the State-language of UP.” They tried to woo the Bengalis in the name of Bengali. Such  is the opportunism of Communists.  
                      

 

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