The land row is widely seen as a galvanising factor for the people of Jammu to unite and stand up against the Valley.
"From bureaucracy to politics to other service sectors, Jammu has been neglected for long. Its geographical area is more, but the power goes to the Valley. Its population is more, but the Valley has more constituencies. All development projects are Valley-centric," Joshi points out.
SASS member Baldev Singh Salathia, who stepped down as the assistant advocate general to join the agitation, argues, "People have seen the discrimination and suffered for 60 years. Now they see this as a god sent opportunity to voice their anger."
A pro-Jammu local newspaper, the State Times, stated in its editorial, 'For Jammuites who were being exploited for 60 years, it came to a breaking point and acted as a unifying factor -- maybe under a religious emblem. But what is wrong with it?
'It is not against any other religion as it is against the Valley move that targeted Hindus.'
Interestingly, the Muslims of Jammu do not see eye to eye with their co-religionists in Kashmir. Leader of the Muslim Federation Abdul Majid says, "What the state has done is wrong. We are fully in support of revoking the order and giving the land for use by pilgrims. If you want to understand this, you must first understand that the feelings of the Kashmir Muslim and the Jammu Muslim are different. First, they are a majority force there and we are a minority people here. Second, and more important, is the fact that for us people here, Jammu comes first. So, naturally we will be with the people of Jammu."
Thus, the movement in Jammu has ceased to be a political issue and has become a mass movement with people of all faiths -- Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus -- joining it. In the Valley, politicians started it and the separatists hijacked it; in Jammu, politicians started it and now the disenfranchised people have hijacked it.
And now, all parties face one ineluctable fact: There is no solution that can reconcile the differing stands of the two regions, and any solution that favours one region will be immediately -- and violently -- rejected by the other.
Image: The protests have reached Delhi
Photograph: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Srinagar erupts in violence
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