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| Contours of PRC bill | | Besides being gender discriminatory, it is regionally & religiously divisive | |
By Yash Bhasin
Permanent State Resident (Disqualification) bill introduced in the J&K legislative Council by an opposition PDP member, Murtza Khan, ironically on the International Women Day March 8, is not only gender discriminatory against women, but is also separatist in nature. The bill which seeks to disqualify permanent State resident girls from their right as such on their marriage with a non permanent State resident boys, also seeks that those women who become permanent State residents of J&K by dint of their marriage to permanent state resident men, will lose this right in case the marriage is annulled by divorce or even with the death of the husband if the widow goes back to live out side the State.
The bill is discriminatory against the fair sex, as it does not acknowledge their own identity and attaches their status as wives of the husbands. Loss of entitlement to PRC deprives a woman from the right to inherit the property of her parents in J&K as well as legibility to government job with the J&K government. The bill has been introduced with the intention to preserve the separate status of J&K, provided under Article 370 of the Indian constitution. As such it is separatist in nature. The supporters of the bill make no secret of the same having the motivating force behind it of preserving the separate status of J&K under Article 370 and that the same is aimed at checking further dilution of the special status of J&K guaranteed under the said Article, by allowing girls marring non permanent State resident boys to inherit the property of their parents in the State, which otherwise non State residents are debarred. The bill also derives strength from Article 370 since being a constitution amendment bill, the same can be moved in the State legislature only because of J&K State having its own constitution. No legislature of any other State can entertain any such bill, since it is not within the preview and jurisdiction of a State legislature.
The bill not only divides the people in J&K on regional lines, but is also divisive on religious lines. It has been moved with the intension & derives strength from the apprehension of threat to the change in the demographic crater of J&K as the over whelming Muslim majority State. The supporters of the bill express the fear of a large number of Hindu girls from Jammu region & even Kashmiri Pandits marrying non permanent State residents boys entitling them to be the permanent State residents & thus in course of time the same leading to change in the population composition of the State religion wide. Although this fear is totally unfounded, since during last 6years after the rejection of the similar bill in the State Assembly in 2004, with some girls married outside the State acquiring permanent State resident certificates, no ratio of Hindu-Muslim population has undergone any change. Yet the perceived threat to the same cited by the supporters of the bill and invoking this angle has the potential to trigger religious divide & introduces communal angle into the issue.
The bill divides the J&K people on regional lines since it are the people in Jammu mainly & here to Hindus who marry their daughters outside the State. Kashmiri Pandit migrants too are going to be adversely affected, if the bill is passed, since after their migration to various parts of the country, KP girls are finding matches with non J&K State subject boys. Kashmiri Muslims psychologically confined to close knit society & clinging to their separate identity & entity, with few exceptions, are reluctant to marry their girls outside J&K State. The argument advance by some opponents of the bill that the same is only gender discriminatory & has no regional & least religious angle is myopic. It is tantamount to adopting ostrich like attitude & non facing the reality. The bill, in fact is a part of the wider move to safeguard the separate identity of the Kashmiris & has been moved with the same intention. Although the provision of permanent State residentship as such has nothing to do with Article 370, since it was in vogue right from the times of Dogra rulers, incorporated in different context, in keeping with the need of the time to bar british nationals from owning landed property in J&K. Yet the move to snatch permanent state residentship from girls marrying non J&K permanent State resident boys, is linked with Article 370, which provides for separate constitution of J&K, which is sought to be amended through this constitution amendment bill.
In the meanwhile the moving of the bill in the State Council by a PDP member is a master stroke by the main opposition party in J&K to put its arch rival, the ruling NC in a piquant situation, by creating wedge between its coalition partner, the Congress. The Congress having its main support base in Jammu & particularly among the Hindus can’t help opposing the bill, as it had done in 2004, leading to its defeat in the assembly. But the NC, which though having main stake in Kashmir valley & among Muslims has some pockets of influence in Jammu region as well including among Hindus. So it is put in a State of dilemma. Further the passage of the bill with the NC support has the potential to break the NC Congress alliance & affect the stability of the coalition government. The Congress party having its constituency in the country as whole will be hard set to give explanations & defend itself in case this anti-woman & anti-minority community in J&K bill gets through. Against this the PDP is in a win & win position. The BJP in Jammu region & mainly in the Hindus majority areas of the region may also be benefitted by opposing the bill. But unfortunately it is the fair sex which is sought to be made pawn on the chess board of this political maneuver.
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