Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 17: On Sunday, the J&K unit of BJP adopted a resolution on delimitation of assembly constituencies. The so-called political resolution demanded de novo delimitation of Assembly constituencies in the State. It said delimitation of assembly constitutions based on the laid down criteria - population, land area, accessibility and nature of terrain - alone could end discrimination and injustice with the people of Jammu province and the trans-Himalayan Ladakh.
Earlier, a number of BJP working committee members denounced the NC, the Congress and the PDP for perpetrating injustice after injustice on Jammu and Ladakh and accused them of grabbing more seats for Kashmir (which is inferior to Jammu in terms of land area and even in terms of number of voters) and denying Jammu what it legitimately deserved in the J&K Legislative Assembly, the state's highest law-making body - body which discusses and decides questions of supreme importance to the well-being and happiness of the people.
They make a valid point. Indeed, the Kashmiri leaders belonging to all political parties have treated the people of Jammu and Ladakh as second class citizens and ensured Kashmir's domination over the state polity by manipulating excessive representation in the assembly. All agree that Jammu's share in the assembly would be more as compared to Kashmir is free and fair delimitation was done.
However, has the BJP moral and political right to criticize the NC or for that matter all the Kashmir-based and Kashmir-controlled parties including the Congress, the PDP, the CPI-M and political formations like People's Democratic Front (PDF) as far as the issue of delimitation is concerned? It is for the BJP to answer. The facts suggest that the BJP is also not innocent. The BJP had also voted for the 2002 NC-sponsored amendment that banned delimitation of assembly constituencies at least till 2035. All the 8 BJP MLAs, like all the NC, Congress, PDP and PDF, had voted for the anti-Jammu and anti-Ladakh constitutional amendment. BJP needs to abandon the politics of deceit and tell the truth to neglected people of Jammu and Ladakh as to why BJP stood behind Farooq Abdullah and other Kashmiri law makers in February 2002. |
