Amend Constitution to fully integrate Kashmir: RSS chief

nagpur — Stirring up again the raging controversy over the demand to abolish Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said constitutional amendments were needed to fully integrate the troubled state with the rest of India.

Speaking on a range of issues in his annual address to RSS volunteers on its 92nd foundation day here, Bhagwat also dismissed reports of cow vigilantes indulging in communal violence, saying those protecting bovines were, in fact, being “attacked and killed”.

He asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government not to misinterpret the facts on the issue, and punish the criminals and not harm innocents as the “virtuous work of cow protection will increase in coming days”.

The BJP’s ideologue gave the thumbs up to the government on the economic situation even as the RSS chief sought special protection for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the “tremors” caused by the “cleaning and reform” drives like demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax regime.

He spoke elaborately on the Kashmir issue in his annual Vijaya Dashami speech. He blamed certain constitutional provisions, like Article 35(A) that empowers the state’s legislature to define Jammu and Kashmir residents and accord citizenship rights to them, for the “backward life” of Hindu migrants. “This is happening just because the discriminatory provisions in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that denied them the fundamental rights,” he said.

“Necessary Constitutional amendments will have to be made and old provisions will have to be changed. Then and then only, the residents of Jammu and Kashmir can be completely assimilated with rest of Bharat and their equal cooperation and share will be possible in the national progress.”

The Article 35(A), which also bars non-residents from buying property in the state, applying for government jobs, voting in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, is being debated in the Supreme Court after a petition called for its revocation.

Bhagwat also spoke about Kashmiri Pandits, who migrated from the valley in early 1990s when an armed insurgency broke out in the state, saying their condition “remains as it is”. Welcoming the government’s initiative of firmly dealing with separatists and militants, Bhagwat said the “path for complete resolution of the (Kashmir) issue will be facilitated when the entire society will stand behind the well- thought policy of dealing sternly and strongly with the antinational forces”.

“To eradicate the poison of alienation and unrest created through the systematic and false propaganda over the years, the society will have to show the natural affection through these positive actions.”—