Five years ago, the Narendra Modi-led Union government read down Article 370, taking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood, and splitting it into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019. The past five years have seen sweeping changes, glaring rights abuses and big developments in the region. This series looks at where J&K was and where it is now, five years after the move.
This is the third part of three reported pieces from Jammu and Kashmir. Read the first part here and the second part here.
Jammu/Srinagar: For decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its earlier avatar Jana Sangh used to protest against the practice of the Durbar Move — a practice where the seat of power, the Civil Secretariat — would shift to Jammu region in the winters and to the cooler climes of Srinagar during the summers.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its sister organisations, including the BJP, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bajrang Dal, etc, used to argue that the Durbar Move was a way for the Kashmiri-dominated state parties like the National Conference to maintain their hegemony and deprive Jammu of its rightful share in the power.
In fact, figures — never backed by official data — used to be routinely cited by the RSS affiliates about how less than two per cent employees of the Civil Secretariat were from the Jammu region.
Finally, in 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Narendra Modi put an end to the practice. The official line was that it was causing a lot of wasteful expenditure.
Jammuites cheered the “historic” move, even ladoos were distributed by the BJP workers and locals in the streets, asserting the dominant Kashmiri leadership had finally been taught a lesson.
Five years later, its economy in shambles, Jammu wants the Durbar Move to be restored.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone. Even BJP leaders and workers, having realised that there is a stark difference between rhetoric and reality, privately admit that it was a foolish demand.
The BJP leaders have stopped talking about the historic move in their public utterances.
“The government says it saves about Rs 200 crores every year due to the ending of this practice of (the) Durbar Move. But what about Jammu businessmen and traders, whose businesses have suffered huge losses due to (the) absence of Kashmiri patrons? For years, Kashmiri Durbar Move employees and their families used to be the main sources of income for us during the five-six months they spent in Jammu. Now, that income has vanished. If there ever was a perfect example of the adage ‘cut off your nose to spite the face’, this is it,” says Vikas Sharma, a Jammu businessman.
Asked to explain further, Sharma did something interesting. He invited this reporter to hop onto his car and took him on an impromptu tour of Raghunath Bazaar, Residency Road, Gummat Bazaar and Link Road, all central business hubs of Jammu — for outsiders, a comparison could be Delhi’s Chandni Chowk.
Even on that relatively-cooler Wednesday evening, the shops and the roads were bereft of customers, a far cry from five years ago when yatris — Amarnath as well as Mata Vaishno Devi — would make a beeline to the shops in these areas to buy local products like basmati rice, rajma (kidney beans), handicraft items, walnut, almond, saffron, clothes, etc, to take back home as souvenirs.
“This is what has changed. There are simply no customers. Yatris are not staying in Jammu now. Due to improved road and train connectivity to Katra, the base camp for the Mata Vaishno Devi yatra, outsiders are no longer spending time in Jammu. And, with (the) Durbar Move stopped, Kashmiris who used to purchase their annual clothing, etc, from our shops and would also stay in our hotels or take our homes on rent for 6-odd months are not coming any longer. Our businesses are ruined. But the government is not interested. And, yes, we have only ourselves to blame for this mess,” Sharma says.
Interestingly, residents of Kashmir region have no view on the Durbar Move — almost as if they don’t care.
“We have no interest whether it (Durbar Move) is re-started or not. The one good thing that has come from the Durbar Move being stopped is that our local shops have ensured easy availability of material that we used to get from Jammu. In fact, it was not easy for us also, packing everything, shifting to Jammu during the winter months for (the) Durbar. Now that forced migration for five-six months has stopped. That is why on the issue of (the) Durbar Move we are simply not bothered,” says an employee in Srinagar Civil Secretariat, who used to be a part of the Durbar Move earlier.
“Of course, (the) Durbar Move must be started soon. Not for Kashmir but to save Jammu’s businesses. From being an economic hub earlier, Jammu is now facing ruination. The Central government must see the writing on the wall and restore the Durbar Move,” says former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti.
Apart from the Durbar Move, another very important factor that has resulted in losses to the business community in Jammu as well as Katra — the base camp for the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine pilgrimage — is the fact that there are now over one dozen trains daily connecting Katra to other parts of the country.
“Earlier, yatris would alight at the Jammu railway station, keep their luggage in a hotel here and then proceed to Mata (Vaishno Devi). After doing darshan, they would come to Jammu, spend some time here, do shopping and then take the train back. Now, with so many direct trains to Katra, all this has stopped. Even Amarnath Yatris are not shopping here any longer. In a sense, development has been the cause of our financial ruin. The government needs to come up with a plan to have artificial tourism,” says Rakesh Gupta, former president, Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
A senior Jammu-based journalist Manu Shrivatsa says:
“More than mere symbolism, the Durbar Move had a strong financial value, especially for the people of Jammu city. They (people of Jammu) possibly didn’t realise this when they were all gung-ho about the move to stop this practice. Now, they realise it was (a) misconceived decision. But they can’t do anything now. In a way, they have brought it upon themselves.”
Jammu and Kashmir’s most prominent activist-lawyer, one who has a history of raising issues of public importance through his PILs, advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed says something similar.
“Jammu’s economy is ruined. Just go around and see how many houses are now vacant, waiting for that elusive tenant. But, nobody is ready to admit it publically for fear of reprisal.”
Sources in the BJP told me that some senior leaders have voiced the demand for restoration of the Durbar Move with senior central BJP leaders.
“But, there was no response. After that we stopped raising it. But we know that unless this very important issue is addressed, it could hurt us politically,” this leader told me.
However, sources say, the Central government is not keen to revisit the decision as it feels it could lead to demands for roll-back of other, politically-contentious decisions.
