Jammu, Nov 10: Sharp political friction surfaced at the fire-ravaged Warehouse Complex in Jammu on Monday when devastated wholesale traders and commercial operators furiously confronted a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, accusing elected representatives of ignoring the economic distress of Jammu’s trading community.
The visiting delegation, led by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the J&K Legislative Assembly Sunil Sharma and including Member of Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, MLAs Yudhvir Sethi, Vikram Randhawa, and Arvind Gupta, along with former state party chief Ravinder Raina, arrived at the site intending to offer condolences over the disastrous Diwali night inferno. However, the leaders were met with angry pushback from merchant representatives whose shops and godowns were reduced to rubble.
“You always sit on dharna outside the Legislative Assembly, but why did you not hold a sit-in for those whose livelihoods were snatched on Diwali day?” demanded Deepak Gupta, President of the Warehouse Traders Federation, addressing Sunil Sharma directly. “You will also leave after giving us assurances like the government.”
Gupta pointedly recalled the aftermath of the October 25 blaze near Jammu railway station’s Shiv Market, where 29 shops were gutted without subsequent rehabilitation. Invoking regional political dynamics, Gupta argued that despite the Jammu electorate consistently backing national initiatives including the abrogation of Article 370, local merchants continue to face structural neglect, highlighting long-pending appeals for 500 kanals of land for decongested warehousing infrastructure. Turning toward MP Jugal Kishore, Gupta cautioned that political power is transitory, asserting that “the chair is not permanent.”
In a bid to defuse mounting anger in an area historically regarded as the party’s core constituency, LoP Sunil Sharma announced that all 29 BJP MLAs would pool financial contributions from their Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to provide immediate financial aid to devastated traders. Sharma also constituted a six-member fact-finding and damage assessment committee chaired by MLA Sham Lal Sharma to petition the Lieutenant Governor’s administration for direct compensation packages and statutory rule relaxations.
Published by True Roots Media