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JAMMU: The recent controversial circular issued by the University of Jammu attempting to frame the cultural identity of the Jammu region through the newly coined term “Jammuiyat” has raised serious and legitimate concerns among students, scholars, and civil society.
Under normal circumstances, any effort by the Jammu university to deepen its engagement with the cultural life of the region—beyond its role in teaching and research—would have been widely welcomed. Universities must serve as intellectual spaces where regional histories, traditions, and identities are studied, documented, and preserved.
However, the language and framing of the circular in question appear to distort rather than faithfully represent the historical and cultural identity of the Jammu region. The above statement was issued by Girdhari Lal Raina former MLC and spokesperson of BJP JK-UT.
This is particularly disturbing in the context of ongoing attempts by certain divisive and rabidly communal forces to project Jammu as a fragmented and internally divided region, in contrast to the artificially projected homogeneity of the Kashmir Valley, he added.
Such narratives are not only historically inaccurate but politically motivated. They serve a larger agenda aimed at denying the Jammu region its rightful share in development, political representation, and economic growth, said GL Raina.
He further noted that attempts to introduce and institutionalize the term “Jammuiyat” to describe the civilizational ethos of the Jammu province raises deeper questions. The cultural identity of the region has historically evolved within the broader framework of Duggar civilization, encompassing the area from Poonch to Doda and Lakhanpur to Banihal. It has never required artificial academic constructs to define it , he asserted.
He stressed that There is a genuine concern that such terminology could be used to gradually register and propagate a divisive ideological narrative at the academic level and disseminate it to the grassroots under the pretext of fostering dialogue and cultural reflection.
It is encouraging that alert students and other stakeholders promptly raised objections, compelling the university administration to modify the circular. Their vigilance prevented a potentially damaging narrative from gaining institutional legitimacy, Raina appreciated. However, merely modifying the circular does not resolve the larger issue.
The origin, intent, and intellectual authorship behind this initiative must be thoroughly investigated. GL Raina demanded that Those responsible for drafting and promoting such a provocative and misleading formulation must be identified and held accountable. Academic institutions carry a profound responsibility. They must safeguard truth, not experiment with narratives that risk distorting the cultural identity of a region.
Jammu’s history, heritage, and civilizational identity are far too deep and authentic to be reduced to newly manufactured slogans. They deserve scholarship—not ideological reinvention.
