Jammu residents are looking for faces and voices which can address their grievances and work to fulfill their aspirations.

It has been a long struggle for the residents to find the right kind of leader who could be called a leader of the region in its complete sense. The need for such a leader or leader is being felt more and more after the abrogation of Article 370, Article 35 A and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.

Dogras, whose forefathers set up the state and extended its boundaries to Central Asia and Tibet, are feeling helpless after witnessing the downgrading of the state into two UTs, and the perception that Jammu has become a UT and Kashmir has been separated from it, in some parts of the country is further hurting them. “The Article 370 was discriminatory. It is good that it is gone, but we had not expected the state to become UT, that too, two in numbers,” said a retired official. “This is regretful but more hurting is the fact that Jammu has no voice,” he said. ‘There is a leadership deficit in the region’ is the common refrain at weddings and funerals. The commoners have started worrying about the future of their children, especially when it dawned on them that the special rights and privileges available to them since the times of Maharaja Hari Singh have gone.

As and when they talk of the leadership, they have background of what happened in recent years. The representatives whom they mandated to work for them and air their grievances indulged in furthering their ambitions and who did not think of beyond transfers and postings in the Cabinet meetings.

Former political adviser to then CM Omar Abdullah and provincial president of the NC, it is thought Devender Singh Rana can assume the role of the leader of the region. There is overall admiration for his “intellect, articulation and connect with all sections and communities across the state, now UTs. “He is an asset to the region,” said Divakar Khajuria, a resident of the walled city. “But he needs to make his party (NC) to treat Jammu as an equal partner. At the moment, it seems that he is the right leader but in the wrong party because of the NC’s excessive Kashmir-centric approach,” Khajuria said.

His constituents say his work in Nagrota constituency is admirable. He had won from the constituency despite the Modi wave in 2014. The rest of the region expects him to work for all of them. The BJP’s UT unit president Ravinder Raina is a firebrand leader, always willing to denounce Pakistan and terrorism. He always advocated hard line against Pakistan and separatists, and sometimes his comments amuse the people like when he said “Kejriwal won because he recited Hanuman Chalisa”, and pronounced his verdict on the deferment of panchayat polls because of “Trump’s visit.” He is always cautious to raise larger issues. Jammu wants him to speak for the region and the people.

The people of the region also have hopes from former minister Sham Lal Sharma, who during his tenure as minister from 2009 to 2015 did not hesitate to speak for Jammu and its concerns. Earlier, in the Congress, now in the BJP, Sham is striving to make his party understand the importance of Jammu region in politics. This is where he matters.

In Jammu city, Congress leader and former minister Raman Bhalla, known as people’s MLA, is popular among his constituents of Gandhi Nagar, where he has built a reputation of development man. His strength lies in high accessibility making him popular among masses in Jammu.