Jammu statehood row: 'Minority cannot rule majority'; says Minister Javid Rana

Srinagar, Jan 10: Cabinet Minister Javid Ahmad Rana has criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its push for Jammu Statehood, stating, "Create a separate Jammu, but it won't include the Pir Panjal or Chenab regions."

Speaking exclusively to the news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS), Minister Rana said, "Some people today claim that Jammu was a state of Dogras and that Dogras established its boundaries. Now, they want to make Kanak Mandi a state. On one hand, they say the state belongs to Dogras, but it was never exclusively a Dogra state.

Minister said I have never agreed with this. The minority cannot rule the majority. This is the law; it is the law of nature. How can a minority rule the majority? By force? So now, these people who want to drive the cart from Kanak Mandi—if they want to create a state, let them create it. But they will not have Pir Panjal with them, nor will they have Chenab—two major regions. They won't even have Kashmir.

He said these are impossible and baseless ideas, and politically, there is no substance to the talk of granting Jammu separate statehood," Minister Rana added.

The remarks came after BJP leader and former minister Sham Lal Sharma stirred controversy by calling for a separate state for the Jammu region.