Modi govt to amend J&K Reorganisation Bill, reserve 1 seat for PoK displaced, 2 for Kashmiri Hindus
The Narendra Modi government has decided to table a Bill in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament to amend the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. The stated objective of the government is to reserve three seats in the J&K Assembly. Two of the three seats will be reserved for the persecuted and hounded-out Kashmiri Hindus, including one woman, and one for the persecuted Hindu-Sikh refugees from Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) living in Jammu and other parts of the country since their forced migration in 1947-1948.
It needs to be underlined that in its report, the Delimitation Commission, which was set up under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, had recommended reservation of seats for both Kashmiri Hindus and displaced persons from PoJK or refugees, who had virtually no representation in the Assembly.
The Bill, when passed by the Parliament, will increase the number of Assembly seats from 114 to 117, including 24 seats reserved for PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, seven for the Scheduled castes, nine for the Scheduled Tribes and three for the Hindu refugees from Kashmir and Hindu-Sikh refugees from PoJK. In other words, the effective strength of the Assembly will be 93 seats – 47 in Kashmir (all 100% Muslim), 43 in Jammu (30-32 Hindu-majority and 10-12 Muslim-majority), and the three reserved seats. 90 seats will be filled through election based on adult franchise and the three reserved seats will be filled through nomination process. They would be nominated by the Lieutenant Governor of J&K.
The reported decision of the Modi government should have been commended and welcomed by one and all given the fact that the proposed Bill aimed at enabling the persecuted and hounded-out Hindu and Sikh communities to highlight their woes, pains, and aspirations in the Assembly and become part of the law-making processes. But this was not to be. The separatist and an integral part of the anti-Hindu I.N.D.I.A. Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti-led Gupkaris, who earlier vehemently opposed, and continue to oppose, the abrogation of J&K’s special status based on religion, creation of UT of Ladakh, J&K Delimitation Commission and division of Jammu province into 43 territorial constituencies, again joined hands to oppose the government’s well-meaning move.
Opposing the move, the protagonist of J&K’s limited accession to India, the National Conference (NC) of Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, has said: “The NC has no problem with representation to under-represented communities. That was also the logic behind having an Upper House, which was scrapped under this very Reorganisation Act. Our opposition is to the proposal of the Lieutenant Governor nominating people. This should be the prerogative of the elected government and not an unelected representative of Delhi”. “In the past, candidates for the two reserved seats for women were nominated by the Governor, but only with the approval of the elected government…The fact that the LG is being authorized to nominate is another admission that the BJP is convinced they will lose the next election in J&K. The party is using the nomination route to try to get a handful of members in the House. Two or three seats will make no difference to the future of the BJP and it (BJP) should stop hiding behind the Election Commission and its governor…It has already rejected the Reorganisation Act of 2019, and the entire process has been challenged in court. It raises concerns about how the government can proceed with a decision in such haste while it is still being debated in the Supreme Court,” the NC also said. The BJP is trying to hide its sins,” it further said.
The reaction of the votary of Pakistan, self-rule, and shared sovereignty/ supra-state measures People (PDP) was no different from that of the NC. Its inter-alia said: “The PDP isn’t against the reservation but the Bill has been challenged in the Supreme Court. It’s better to wait for SC judgment in the case. It’s not that people were not given representation in J&K. Earlier also it was done but at that time elected representatives used to choose them. How come a person sitting in Delhi will decide who is going to represent people in J&K?”
As for the spokesperson of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) and CPIM state secretary, Mohd Yousuf Tarigami, he said: “The Narendra Modi government’s move is ‘unconstitutional and illegal’. It should have waited for the Supreme Court’s verdict on the petitions filed against the abrogation of the state’s special status and the J&K Reorganisation Act. It would have been better, had the Delimitation Commission itself earmarked seats for Kashmiri Hindus and people of PoJK. Those nominated by the Lt Governor will represent the government more than these people”.
The Peoples Conference (PC) of militant-turned-politician, a close ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and former minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, Sajad Lone, also didn’t lag behind. Denouncing the move, the PC, among other things, said: “While the party acknowledges the importance of providing representation to underrepresented sections of society, it believes the nomination process should be carried out on the advice of the Council of Ministers to ensure fair representation and uphold democratic values in J&K. In a parliamentary democracy, it is fundamental that the President, Governor, or Lieutenant Governor acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. This principle extends to the nomination of members to the Lok Sabha or any state legislature. The President, Governor, or LG cannot exercise their prerogative without seeking the advice of the Council of Ministers. However, the Centre’s proposed Bill appears to equip the LG with the sole authority to nominate members to the state legislature of J&K, bypassing the constitutional requirement of seeking advice…By allowing selective nominations by the LG, the government could potentially alter the majority in the legislature into a minority, thus subverting the democratic will of the people. This undemocratic tactic not only undermines the essence of our democratic structure but also poses a threat to the tenets of our Constitution”.
The opposition of the NC, the PDP, the PAGD, the CPIM, and the PC to the Modi government’s move is mischievous and communally motivated. The fact of the matter is that the move has rattled and exposed them. Exposed them because a peep into the electoral history of J&K between 1951 and 2014 reveals that the Kashmiri Muslim leaders, without any exception, did everything under the sun to render the minorities, including Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikh and Hindu-Sikh refugees from PoJK unreal and ineffective and deny them even the basic social, political and economic rights. In fact, they considered them obstacles in their struggle against India as these minorities always swung solidly behind New Delhi, and that the so-called democracy in J&K was nothing but a dictatorship of the Kashmiri-speaking Sunni leadership.
However, to say all this is not to suggest that 43 seats for the ignored and grossly discriminated against people of Jammu province and three reserved seats for the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus and Hindu-Sikh refugees from PoJK in the 93-member Assembly is a solution to their age-old problems and the problem in Kashmir. This is not the solution. Separation of Jammu province from Kashmir, grant of full state status to Jammu province, conversion of Kashmir into Chandigarh-type UT, and a dispensation that satisfies the urges, needs, compulsions, and aspirations of the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus alone could be a lasting solution. Besides, such reforms would go a long way in breaking the backbone of Kashmir Jihad.
It is hoped that PM Narendra Modi and HM Amit Shah would rise to the occasion and go in for a lasting solution as suggested above.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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