news details |
|
|
| Pressure on BJP to implement Venkataraman's J&K solution | | Limiting area of strife to Valley | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 21: The decision of the Kashmir-based parties, including NC, PDP, CPI-M and Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN) to boycott the upcoming urban local bodies and panchayat elections on the spurious plea that the Government of India and Jammu & Kashmir government linked Article 35-A with these elections has triggered a debate in Jammu and Ladakh, and even in New Delhi.
The general view is that by deciding to boycott the upcoming civic bodies' elections, the Kashmir-based parties only tried to blackmail New Delhi to extract more and more concessions so that they could further widen the already rather wide gulf between Jammu & Kashmir and New Delhi and further strengthen the Valley's stranglehold over Jammu and Ladakh.
But more than that, the critics of the Kashmir-based and Kashmir-centric parties have questioned the very rational to keep Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh under one government. They have urged PM Narendra Modi to implement former President R Venkataraman's Jammu & Kashmir solution. Late Venktaraman had urged the then PM Indira Gandhi to "grant statehood to Jammu, grant Union Territory status to Ladakh and deal with Pakistan separately".
Many across the country have been endorsing this solution for days now, especially after NC president Farooq Abdullah announced his decision that the NC will not participate either in the local bodies' elections or in the assembly and parliamentary elections in case the Union government failed to make a categorical commitment that it will not repeal and dilute or tinker with Article 35-A in any manner. They are saying that "implementation of the Venkataraman's Jammu & Kashmir solution would, on the one hand, meet the age-old demand of the neglected people of Jammu and Ladakh and empower them to manage their own affairs themselves, and, on the other, limit the area of strife to what they call 40X80 sq km Kashmir Valley".
Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi the other day went a step further and not only advocated the need for the "trifurcation of the state into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, but also bifurcation of Kashmir to create a separate homeland for the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus". In fact, he and many others in New Delhi during an even pitched for a four-way split of the state as a lasting solution to the issues facing the state.
Interestingly, reports emanating from the corridors of power in New Delhi and from Sangh Parivar are also suggesting that their "influential" people who want the Narendra Modi government to reorganize the state and that too "before the 2019 general elections". One report had even suggested that the PM Modi himself could make such an announcement. Not only this, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said that "RSS doesn't want Articles 370 and 35-A", thus adopting a line that ultimately leads to the reorganization of the state.
Indeed, the decision of the Kashmir-based parties to not participate in the civic elections has created a new element in the political situation in the state. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
