Many believe that Jammu has been continuously discriminated by the authorities no matter who was in the office.
From the days of the accession to the present one, discrimination has cost the region a hefty price. So-called secular arrangements have left the region of Jammu in lurch. The nationalistic people of Jammu have suffered a lot and as a consequence, their situation deserves pity. Their nationalism has caused them to suffer.
They are taken for granted by the administration and all the schemes are first exercised in Kashmir and then left for Jammu. Jammu voted for BJP in the 2014 assembly polls making the party win 25 seats in the region for the first time ever. However the saffron party entered into an alliance with PDP, a Kashmir centric party now being accused of having separatist sentiments by the same BJP.
Kashmir was pampered for being the sympathizer of separatists since the government wished to make them ‘fall in line’. But even after so much money being spent by the government, their behaviour did not change much and many Kashmiris remained sympathetic to the cause of separatists.
Jammu was always treated like a stepchild. Majority of the welfare schemes were run in Kashmir only and the region of Jammu was left to rot. Jammu was discriminated against even though the region has more area and legislative assembly seats than Kashmir.
In order to rectify the wrongdoings, Jammu is in more need of delimitation exercise than Kashmir. Kashmir got more developmental funds than Jammu. Consequently, Even though Jammu has a larger area than Kashmir, still it has a lesser number of schools and hospitals. In all the aspects, Jammu lagged behind Kashmir as a result of discrimination by the governments.
The leaders of Jammu failed to put a strong resistance against this exercise of discrimination because of their internal division. As a result, the people of Jammu suffered. In order to bridge this discrimination, the authorities should equally divide the funds meant for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The people of Jammu have a very low representation in the government jobs and in the seats of the secretariat. If we consider administration, Jammu has a very less number of officers compared to Kashmir.
Jammu gives more revenue to the government than Kashmir and still, it receives discriminatory treatment. Even tourist attractions in the region of Jammu are not developed to their potential which could benefit the people in that region in terms of employment. Jammu is waiting eagerly for the time when the government will stop discriminating with the region.
