Arrest of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan chief Lal Singh renews debate on separate Jammu State
Chaudhary Lal Singh (proper), the chairman of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS) and former Member of Parliament.
| Picture Credit score: PTI
The arrest of Chaudhary Lal Singh, the chairman of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS) and former Member of Parliament, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 7 has introduced renewed consideration to the longstanding demand for separate statehood for the Jammu area.
Lal Singh, a 63-year-old chief, has served as a two-time Lok Sabha MP from the Udhampur constituency and held varied ministerial portfolios within the State authorities. After switching from the Congress to the BJP in 2014, he grew to become a minister within the PDP-BJP coalition authorities, which collapsed in June 2018 following the Kathua rape incident. In February 2019, he based the DSS, a mainstream political social gathering, after resigning from the BJP.
On November 7, Lal Singh was remanded in seven-day custody by a neighborhood anti-corruption court docket in Jammu, a day after the ED arrested him in a cash laundering case. His anticipatory bail software had been dismissed by a particular court docket. Nonetheless, aid was granted to his spouse, former legislator Kanta Andotra, and their daughter in reference to a case registered below the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) associated to the family-run academic belief.
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The PMLA case originates from a 2021 CBI chargesheet, alleging violations of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act throughout the acquisition of land by the tutorial belief in 2011. The court docket emphasised the intense menace of cash laundering to the monetary system and the worldwide financial system, asserting the necessity for stern motion.
Proponent of Jammu’s separation from Kashmir
Lal Singh has been within the highlight for advocating the demand for a separate statehood for Jammu province, comprising ten districts. The world is distinct each ethnically and geographically from the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh area, previously a part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. This demand gained momentum after the abrogation of Article 370, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its semi-autonomous standing and led to its division into two Union Territories.
Along with the DSS, the political social gathering IkkJutt Jammu has additionally been pushing for the separation of Jammu from the Kashmir Valley and the declaration of Jammu as a separate State. By the way in 2002, the RSS had handed a decision calling for the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, giving full statehood to the Jammu province. Lal Singh, in a public rally on October 10, criticised Kashmir-centric politics, attributing financial discrimination in opposition to Jammu and the erosion of Dogra tradition to such insurance policies.
A protest demonstration in Kathua on November 10 criticised the ED’s actions, with Lal Singh’s youthful brother alleging political motives and claiming that BJP leaders feared his rising political stature.
Varied political figures, together with Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and senior CPI(M) chief M.Y. Tarigami, have criticised Lal Singh’s arrest. They view it as a selective strategy, political vendetta, and the misuse of businesses. Harsh Dev Singh, president of Jammu and Kashmir Nationwide Panthers Get together, accused the ruling BJP of utilizing central investigation businesses in opposition to opposition events, describing the scenario as a dictatorship.
“Lal Singh, in a public rally on October 10, criticised Kashmir-centric politics, attributing financial discrimination in opposition to Jammu and the erosion of Dogra tradition to such insurance policies.”
Issues concerning the authorities’s dealing with of dissent had been expressed by Tarigami, who highlighted the sample of the ED changing into energetic when people criticise or categorical disagreement with the federal government. Harsh Dev Singh, looking for correct medical look after Lal Singh, labelled him “a sufferer of the BJP’s political terrorism”. Lal Singh had complained about insufficient medical remedy earlier than being taken into custody on the Authorities Medical Faculty and Hospital in Jammu.
In a put up on X (previously Twitter), Harsh Dev Singh wrote concerning the polarising political atmosphere, stating, “You will be absolved of all of your crimes and purged of sins should you be part of the BJP and face gallows should you oppose BJP. The place has the nation reached at the moment?”
