2 years after Art 370 move, louder calls for statehood
NEW DELHI: Two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, there is a growing demand for the restoration of statehood in both places. It is significant for Ladakh to have demanded this given its long quest for UT status had finally materialised in 2019.
The reorganisation of the state on August 5, 2019, included the effective nullification of Articles 370 and 35(A) that gave the erstwhile state its special status and the mandate to define its domicile rules that also laid down conditions for employment. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has a legislature, but Ladakh doesn’t have one.
Prominent regional parties such as the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party have challenged the nullification of the region’s special status in court and have called for its restoration. But there is greater unity among parties in their demand for the restoration of statehood. Barring the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level, all the other parties have demanded the restoration of statehood before the delimitation exercise gets over, which is mandatory for the holding of elections, according to the reorganisation law.
However, the local unit of the BJP is in favour of restoring statehood even though it was at the forefront of demanding the nullification of the articles 370 and 35 (A).
“It is a promise that the Prime Minister has made, and we want him to fulfil it. There is a concern in Jammu that even post reorganisation little has changed on the ground vis-à-vis development in the region. Then there is also the concern that taking advantage of loopholes in the law, outsiders can grab the land in Jammu as they will find the (security) situation more conducive here than in the Kashmir Valley,” a local BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.
BJP spokesperson Anil Gupta, however, said the party is more focused on the delimitation process needed for the polls. “Once a legitimate government is in place, the Union government, depending on the situation, will consider the restoration of statehood. As of today, their demand has no meaning because the PM has already assured that it will be done. The opposition parties just keep shifting the goalpost; first they did not support reorganisation and now they have problems with the delimitation.”
At an all-party meeting on June 24, PM Narendra Modi stressed on the need for stronger grassroots democracy and the importance of conducting elections in J&K, stating his commitment to restoring the region’s statehood, and urging mainstream leaders to participate in the delimitation exercise.
“Our priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy in J&K. Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and J&K gets an elected government that gives strength to J&K’S development trajectory,” Modi tweeted shortly after the meeting. But the regional satraps who raised the demand for restoration of statehood are not convinced by the Centre’s assurance.
Former MP and National Conference leader Hasnain Masoodi said the reorganisation and the scrapping of the special status was done “citing reasons far from reality”.
“Kashmir was way ahead of many states in the country on several human development indices. Second, the assurances that we were given about the changes that will take place after August 5 have not yielded results. There is only uncertainty,” he said.
Masoodi said the Centre’s claims of introducing a three-tier administrative set-up by conducting district development council elections do not compensate for the lack of elected representatives. “Most of the DDC functionaries are in protective custody and cannot even meet people,” he said.
In Ladakh where the Kargil and the Leh divisions have buried their differences over the reorganisation, the demand for statehood has stemmed from concerns that the Union government is yet to sanction a protective law such as bringing the region under Schedule VI of the Constitution to offer protection of land, jobs, environment, culture and language that existed prior to the formation of the UT. Former BJP MP Thupstan Chhewang earlier told HT that the demand for legislature was raised because the Centre had “failed to offer protection” to the people by reserving jobs and ensuring land rights. He went on to add that both the Leh and Kargil divisions were pushing for protection under the Sixth Schedule or a separate schedule of the Constitution for safeguarding the interests of the residents of Ladakh fearing that with domicile rules not defined, land and government jobs would be available to outsiders depriving the residents, a large percentage of whom are from the Scheduled Tribes.
Last week, Chhewang who heads the Apex Committee of Peoples’ Movement of Ladakh along with Asgar Ali Karbali, the co-chair of the Kargil Democratic Alliance, pushed for complete restoration of statehood and two additional Lok Sabha seats from Ladakh.