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| AJKPC lambasts former interlocutor Radha | | Empowering Panchayats | | Neha
JAMMU, Nov 10: All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), considered to an apex body of Panchayat members of state, has lambasted former interlocutor for Jammu & Kashmir Radha Kumar for her provocative statement on the long-pending demand of panchs and sarpachs seeking adoption of 73rd constitutional amendment so that the elected panchayats are empowered and are in a position to cater to the immediate local needs at the grass-roots level.
On November 7, she had said that the adoption of 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments would erode the special status the state enjoyed under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Article 370 is not just an obnoxious provision that has only promoted politics of communalism and secessionism in the Kashmir Valley but it is also highly anti-people, anti-democratic and discriminatory.
Besides, it has created gulf between Jammu & Kashmir and New Delhi and between the former and other states of the Union in the sense that Jammu & Kashmir is the solitary state in the country that has a separate constitution and separate flag.
It was only natural that the statement of Radha Kumar evoked a very strong reaction from the AJKPC, which has been spearheading the empower-panchayats-movement for almost three years now. It was none other than its chairman Shafiq Mir, who only recently joined the Congress party, who denounced Radha Kumar and accused her of making common cause with the anti-people NC-Congress coalition government that has been scuttling their demand putting forward spurious and untenable arguments. He rejected outright the statement of Radha Kumar that the implementation of the provisions of 73rd amendment of Indian constitution would erode the autonomy of the state. He termed her statement as "self-contradictory" and exposed her duplicity saying the interlocutors themselves had recommended in their report the implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments of Indian constitution in the state. He was right. Indeed, the interlocutors' report, which was submitted to the Union Home Ministry on October 12, 2011, recommends implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments. Shafiq Mir was also right when he accused Radha Kumar of "creating more confusion in the state".
Justifying his demand for the adoption of 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments and tearing into Radha Kumar, Shafiq Mir also said: "In fact, the implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments of Indian constitution provide more powers to the local bodies like Panchayats and urban local bodies which means the people are given more autonomy to take decisions regarding the development of their respective areas. Thus these do not erode autonomy but give more autonomy to the people," he said, adding that "those talking about the special status of the state and opposing the implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments in the state of Jammu and Kashmir" should explain as to "how AFSPA and MGNREGA were extended to the state as both these were central acts and passed in the Indian parliament". "AFSPA empowers government and MGNREGA gives them money to loot, so it was no erosion in the autonomy, while 73rd and 74th amendments of constitution empower the people that is why the government is against it, because it does not want to empower the people," he also said while denouncing Radha Kumar and others of her ilk, including the NC leadership.
Mir was of the considered view that it was Radha Kumar and her ilk who have always sided with those in the state who were against the empowerment of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. "The people of Jammu & Kashmir were never given the democracy for which they had opted for India. And some self interests in the state don't want to see the democracy flourishing in the state and that is why they agree opposing the implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments of Indian constitution in the state," he said. No sane person would ever disagree with what Shafiq Mir said while taking on Radha Kumar, the NC, and even the Congress of which he became part only very recently for reasons best known to him. |
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