On November 21, 2018, the bicameral legislative assembly of the “State” of Jammu & Kashmir was dissolved, only to be reconstituted into a weaker framework of a unicameral legislature that was in line with the reduced status as a “Union Territory.”
The landmass and significance of the larger “State” of Jammu and Kashmir had been reduced for the second time in less than 75 years, with particular consequences for the southern district of Jammu.
Prior to this, the grand Jammu & Kashmir State was partially severed from the largest “Princely State” of the Raj Days, which included the regions of Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Aksai Chin, and areas currently under Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (POK), as a result of the cunning plans of the hostile neighbours and former colonists.
Additionally, the management of the 1947–1948 war with Pakistan’s aftermath suffered from certain pusillanimity and mistakes. Prior to independence, Jammu had been without a doubt the heart of the great, inclusive, and forward-thinking Dogra Kingdom, which was afterwards diminished and forgotten in the national psyche.
Unbeknownst to the majority of Indian citizens, the Dogras of the larger Duggar lands have the singular distinction of having received the highest number of gallantry awards when added collectively from the martyrs list from catchment Regiments like the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles, Dogras, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir Rifles and in other “Uniforms” of all possible lanyards and dangling medals.
Have emerging markets or businesses declared transformational investments? Exist any new economic zones? Is society less polarised and divided than it was before?
The implementation of Article 370 is complete, but does it still make sense to reflect on Jammu’s purported benefits while looking beyond its national implications?
Even though the delimitation exercise should be a standard and institutionalised exercise of reorganising the electorate framework, it is also given a context of partisan/religious angularity – it is more of the same, yet again! The majority of people frequently invoke the delimitation exercise as the new “manna” that could deliver Jammu!
