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| Empowering Panchayats | | NC murdering democracy using Article 370 | |
MINCING NO WORDS
NEHA
JAMMU, Sep 30: Elected panches and sarpanches are up in arms against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his government. They are dismissing them as anti-democratic and anti-people an accusing them of misusing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to murder democracy in the state and render institutions at the grassroots level ineffective and unreal. They have pinned their faith in the Congress party, notwithstanding the fact that two Congress ministers and a few other MLAs had opposed their long-pending demand seeking transfer of block-level powers to the elected panchayats, and urged the Congress and other like-minded parties to support the People’s Democratic Party-sponsored private member’s bill on the subject. The PDP has already submitted its private member’s bill to the government, with the JKPCC president announcing his party’s support to the bill.
The panches and sarpanches have only hit the nail on the head by taking on the Chief Minister and his party and dismissing them as stumbling blocks. Their opposition to them is very significant. Even far more significant perhaps is their formulation on Article 370 and the attitude of the NC towards this invidious, discriminatory, divisive and anti-democratic Article, which was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly as a temporary measure, coupled with the assurance that it would become unreal and irrelevant in due course of time. Jawaharlal Nehru, who made the Constituent Assembly to adopt this Article much against the wishes of the nationalist and pro-democracy people of the state, had himself given an assurance to the effect that Article 370 would become obsolete in due course. “Ghiste, Ghiste Ghis Jaiye Ga,” he had said a number of times to pacify the nationalist forces in the state and elsewhere in the country.
It would be appropriate to quote verbatim what convener of Jammu & Kashmir Panchayats Shafiq Mir, a sarpanch from Poonch, said yesterday during his interaction with reporters in Jammu. Mir, who led a delegation of nine panches and sarpanches and met with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and others in New Delhi day before yesterday, among other things, said: “He (Rahul) assured us about the security. He has asked us not to resign saying that we have to fight a long battle in order to implement Mahatma Gandhi's Panchayti Raj system. He said if we resign then we will not be able to voice our concerns. He made us understand that in order to represent people's voice one has to be elected to the parliament…The state government should provide security cover to sarpanches and panches. Centre agreed to provide commandos to the delegation that approached Congress general secretary till the state administration provided them with the security. However, the state government didn't take any action regarding our safety and security. It is intriguing that the state government is not introducing the 73rd constitutional amendment when it did not hesitate to invoke AFSPA in J&K. It also introduced all major central schemes, including NREGA, without any delay…The absence of schemes which could empower the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the State is unacceptable…The NC is confusing everyone regarding the implementation of 73rd amendment, befooling people on the pretext that it is equivalent to compromising with Article 370 in the Constitution concerning special status to the State though Panchayat law was in no way linked to it”. He, along with others, also urged the Congress to withdraw support to the government.
Reflecting on the government's claim that “there is no need for an implementation of 73rd amendment of the constitution in the state as enough powers have already been given to the panchayat”, Mir claimed that “panchs and sarpanchs have not been able to perform their duties due to lack of funds” and added that their empowerment is imperative if they are to play some role at the grassroots level.
The major refrains of Mir were three. One: The NC is responsible for the killing of panches and sarpanches, as it didn’t provide them security. Two: The NC will have to be shown its rightful place for its opposition to the genuine demands as put forth by elected panches and sarpanches. Three: the time has come for all the non-NC formations to join hands and defeat the NC by supporting the PDP’s private member’s bill. What he and others said deserve positive response. |
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