Jammu unrest, a people’s movement

Shravan Shuddha Ashatami

By Vikram Chowdhary

Despite all the politicisation of the Amarnath land row, the people of Jammu feel this is a movement that has started from them.

The rich and famous of Jammu are all out on the streets in the posh Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu.

Vikram Handa, a doctor in the region says it’s a spontaneous move. He and his wife Gurpreet, a school principal have been doing their bit to support the campaign. They are making CDs’ and distributing it free of cost to others.

Vikram said, "It’s a movement of the people, there is no leader there is no lecturing in our group, we all go out together and we come together. There is no leader, nobody controls us its just the people’s movement."

What began as a move by a handful of members of the Amarnath yatra Sangarsh Samiti has now become a mass movement with nearly a thousand people on board.

And with each day more and more people are joining in the campaign holding peace marches.

They assert that they don’t belong to any political party.

Gurpreet said, "Door to door we have done canvassing and people are coming out, much beyond our control, but see this is cause for everyone, nobody is doing for one another, we are doing for ourselves, we want land and nothing short of land."

From a feeble political movement to a mass movement – passionate campaigners like Handas won’t let the momentum die down if the solution is not acceptable to them.

Political efforts

An all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will undertake a two-day visit to Jammu and Srinagar from Saturday in an attempt to end the Amarnath land transfer row.

The delegation comprises of about 12 leaders drawn from different political parties.

After more than a month long agitation, things were much calmer in Jammu on Thursday with the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti that’s been leading the agitation saying that its willing to talk to the government.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh also spoke to BJP leader L K Advani over the phone, who is understood to have told him that his party’s cooperation would depend on government initiating a dialogue with the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti.

Source: ndtv.com

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