Jammu on boil amid the rise of Ikkjutt

Srinagar: The Jammu region is facing a political vacuum as BJP is coming under a lot of criticism and protests from the trading community, and also from the common people, as they feel that they have no security of jobs.
UT administration recently held a real estate summit in Jammu in which the industrialists and other people were invited to buy land, invest in real estate business, and also have their second home in Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Ikkjutt Jammu’ which was formed as a pressure group by the civil society and other political activists was recently given recognition as a political party from the Election Commission of India.
This group is trying to fight for the rights of the people of Jammu and they have been slowly trying to bring out this region from the “clutches of Kashmir political domination”.
“We are trying to provide a united face and a united voice to the people of Jammu irrespective of their religion and we want to have our identity and also our political system not to be subservient to Kashmir,” a senior leader of Ikkjutt Jammu told The Sunday Guardian.
He said that there is a lot of anger against BJP post abrogation of Article 370 as the people of Jammu were expecting at least statehood,and also job security to their youth, and also to their land.
Former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is trying to consolidate his base in the Jammu region and in this direction he recently praised the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir who was a Dogra ruler and said that he was more people-friendly than the present regime of the BJP.
The local unit of BJP in Jammu and Kashmir is feeling the heat in Jammu and they have also started praising Maharaja Hari Singh and in this direction recently the UT administration has also constituted a committee to declare the birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh as a government holiday.
Jammu region is seething with anger as the UT administration has canceled the annual Darbar Move and has also removed the state subject law with no attention to the growing unemployment in the region.
Even the Jammu Chamber of Commerce got full support from the civil society and the other groups when they gave a Hartal Call on September 22, last year, the first time after the abrogation of Article 370. Even protests and rallies were taken out at various places against the central government and the UT administration for their decisions taken in Jammu and Kashmir. In the coming months, there is no indication that the central government is going to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir as the delimitation commission is yet to complete its report for the enhancement of assembly segments and in such an atmosphere.
‘Ikkjutt Jammu’ has the chance to become an alternative talking point for all the people of Jammu and in the coming months, they may pitch for separate statehood to Jammu, and demand their own assembly that would allow them to take decisions without having the shadow of Kashmir over them.