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| What about sufferings of refugees, STs, SCs, OBCs, daughters of J&K? | | BJP's new formulation on Article 370 flawed | | Masood Malik
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 5: People of Jammu and Ladakh are not illiterate. They are politically awakened. No one can fool them. They know who is saying what. The other day, a senior Minister in the Modi government tried to mislead the bitter critics of Article 370 as well as supporters of Article 370. Addressing a civil society meeting organized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at SKICC, Srinagar, he, among other things, said: "Under the constitution of the country, what will be the subjects in the jurisdiction of the Centre and what will be under the jurisdiction of the State. Sixty seven years have passed but now the problems of the common man have been de-linked from that debate. The problems of common man have no relation to which powers are with the Centre and which powers lay with the state. When the floods hit Kashmir, did any one care about the powers? How does he get safety? Where will he be heard in case of injustice to him? He is concerned about economic development and how to improve his quality of living". The minister said so while hinting at Article 370 of Indian constitution.
His whole formulation was flawed. His statement that the "problems of common man have no relation to which powers are with the Centre and which powers lay with the state" was ridiculous. Article 370 has everything to do with the problems an overwhelming majority in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh has been facing since decades. The refugees from West Pakistan, who have been living in Jammu since 1947, could not get citizenship rights because the state got its own constitution under Article 370. The state constitution bars these refugees from enjoying citizenship rights. The said minister made a wrong statement to mislead the people. That he made a wrong statement could be seen from the statement the Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Modi government made on the floor of the Lok Sabha just two days ago. He told the Lok Sabha that the refugees from West Pakistan cannot be given citizenship rights unless the state constitution is amended and the government of India has no power in this regard.
Daughters of the state, who are married outside the state with non-state subjects, have also been suffering because the Indian Constitution is not applicable to the state, as also because there are provisions in the state constitution which make invidious distinctions between male and female state subjects.
Similarly, the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, which got the ST status way back in 1991, do not have political reservation. Had there been no Article 370, there would not have been separate state constitution and had there been no separate constitution, all the central laws relating to the ST communities would have been applicable to the state. Likewise, had there been no Article 370 and no state constitution, the Scheduled Caste communities and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) would have got the rights which are available to their counterparts in the rest of the country.
These sections of society constitute more than half of the state population and they are all denied the rights which are available to their counterparts in the rest of the country and still the said minister says that the "problems of common man have no relation to which powers are with the Centre and which powers lay with the state". How sad! |
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