SRINAGAR: Over three years after the abrogation of J&K’s special status and bifurcation of erstwhile J&K state into two Union Territories, a Jammu-based party has launched a signature campaign in the Jammu region comprising 10 districts for the separate statehood to the Jammu region.
Ikkjut Jammu Party (IJP) had even last year organised protests demanding a separate statehood for the Jammu region. A statehood for Jammu has been a long-standing demand of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The IJP was launched in 2020 with pro-Hindutva agenda to compete against the BJP in Jammu region.
Ikkjut Jammu chairman Advocate Ankur Sharma told The New Indian Express that the party has launched a signature campaign for separate statehood to the Jammu region.
“We have faced discrimination at the hands of Kashmir-based parties for 70 years. The central governments whether it be from Congress or BJP have played their part in marginalizing Jammu people and promoting Kashmir-specific policies,” Sharma said.
He said they want separate statehood for 10 districts of the Jammu region to end the discrimination with people of the region and for this reason, they launched the signature campaign on January 21 this year.
J&K comprises two regions --- Kashmir and Jammu with 10 districts each.
Sharma said they are getting good response from the people especially the women folk, who want separate Jammu state to realize their dreams of better future
According to Ikkjut General Secretary Vijay Shastri, over 1.50 lakh people have signed for separate statehood to Jammu during the ongoing signature campaign.
“Except for the border district of Poonch, we have launched the signature campaign in the nine districts of Jammu region. The highest number of 90,000 people participated in the signature campaign in Jammu city,” he said.
Shastri said they are writing the details of the person, who signs during the signature campaign, to ensure the credibility of the signature campaign.
He said during the signature campaign, the party is also reaching out to masses to apprise them about the party's agenda and policies.
“Our target during the signature campaign for separate Jammu statehood is 50 lakh. After completing the target, we will send the copy of our signature campaign to the President of India and request the President to take up the demand of separate statehood for Jammu with PM Narendra Modi,” said Ikkjut chairman.
With the pro-Hindutva agenda, the Ikkjut, which plans to go national, would be challenging the BJP on its home turf in Jammu.
The BJP had won all its 25 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections from Jammu region.
Taking a dig at BJP, Ikkjut chairman said the BJP played “fraud” with Jammu people by admitting that 2011 census figure of J&K was fudged and despite that the saffron party allowed delimitation of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies as per 2011 census figures.
Ikkjut chairman said in the next phase, they would also be demanding inclusion of Dogra area of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, where Dogra people live, in the Jammu state.
The Ikkjut is demanding that Pathankot, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab and 'Dogra' speaking belt Chamba district of Himachal should be part of the new Jammu state.