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| Sitaram came to Kashmir to muddy Indian waters, promote separatism | | Articles 35A, 370 not an elixir | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 21: Indian political class will not allow mainstream politics to flower in Kashmir. This again became clear the other day when CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury visited Srinagar to address the CMI-M workers. It was hoped that the recent massive defeat of the CPI-M in Tripura and the fall of its bastion will produce the desired results and Sitaram and his colleagues would learn lesson from the defeat and give up negative politics, but it has not happened.
In fact, Sitaram Yechury said in Srinagar that his party, which faced the collapse of CPI-M's over 20-year-old Government in Tripura, has "emerged strong after the defeat". Only he can say so given the fact that WB, Tripura and Kerala were its three strongholds and after the fall of the CPI-M in Tripura and WB, only Kerala is the state which at present it is ruling. It could lose Kerala also as no party in that southern state gets mandate for the second consecutive term.
Instead of condemning the ongoing secessionists movement and the manner in which the so-called mainstream parties had been indulging in competitive politics of communalism and separatism, Sitaram spoke the separatists' language as well as the language of "mainstream" parties, including NC and PDP. He said Kashmir was not a "law and order problem, but a political problem" and that "the Narendra Modi Government has utterly failed to appreciate the ground situation in Kashmir and address the Kashmir issue".
He took up several issues and three, among them, were: Article 35A, Article 370 and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). He criticized those who oppose these two Articles and also demanded that AFSPA be withdrawn from the state. He forgot that while Article 370 had created a separate republic of J&K on the Indian territories and fanned separatism, Article 35A had hurt women of the state, refugees from Pakistan and all non-state subjects, including the President and Prime Minister of India, as they could not buy an inch of land in J&K. It is Article 35A that has deprived the daughter of the state and refugees from Pakistan of their fundamental rights. They are considered third grade subjects in the state.
Sitaram also conveniently overlooked the ground situation in the Kashmir Valley and demanded withdrawal of the AFSPA under which the Armed forces enjoyed legal immunity.
It was absolutely clear from what Sitaram said that the CPI-M, like all Kashmir-based outfits and Pakistan, considered J&K an unsettled issue and here lies the India's real problem. You can tackle Pakistan and separatists. But how to tackle Sitaram and ilk? This is the question that haunts the nation 24X7. |
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