Jammu December 24:(KNS) "After the successful conduct of the DDC elections in Jammu and Kashmir in the post 5/6 August 2019 scenario, it is time to express gratitude to the government led by the PM Narendra Modi for bringing grassroot level democracy to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also time now for the Delimitation Commission to come in to settle the unsettled issues in the Union Territory", said Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, senior BJP and Kashmiri Pandit leader and Incharge, Deptt of Political Affairs and Feedback, J&K-BJP.
In a statement issued to KNS, On an analysis of the election campaign, voting pattern and the election results, it is clear that the equal distribution of seats between both the Jammu and Kashmir regions has played a pivotal role in creating trust and satisfaction among the people of the Union Territory for the first time, politically speaking, added Chrungoo while talking to the party activists in a function at Jammu.
"There can't be two opinions about the facts of discrimination and bias against the region of Jammu in respect of delimitation earlier which allotted three seats to the Kashmir valley and two seats only to the Jammu region for the parliament in addition to giving 46 assembly seats to Kashmir and 37 seats to Jammu division, he added. This was and remains a violation of the fundamental rights in terms of equality and equal opportunities irrespective of "anything" in regard to the citizens of the erstwhile state.
Chrungoo further said that moreover, the West Pakistan refugees, sections of Valmiki Samaj and Gorkha community will also add up to the overall demographic vicissitudes now since they have also voted in the DDC elections for the first time recently. The census of 2011 can't be the only criteria that need to be the basis for the delimitation. Many other factors also require to be taken into consideration by the commission.
"The Kashmiri Pandit community which is living as refugees in their own country for the last more than three decades have very meager chances to get their representatives elected to the politically important forums. Since they are not politically represented unlike all other communities in the UT, they are the perpetual victims of having been refused their share in the government, administration and the other arms and instrumentalities of the state", the BJP leader added.
"There is no member of the Pandit community in the all important Public Service Commission of the State/UT for the last one decade, there has not been even a single minister in the government for the last more than a decade, there is no possibility of being represented, for the indigenous people of the state, in the Parliament of the nation neither is there any mechanism to nominate them to the important political positions either at the centre or in the UT. It is a politically victimised community for no fault of theirs and the ethnic cleansing in 1989-90 has added to and multiplied their woes in this respect. What remained undone was done by the irrelevant practice of M-Forms during the elections", Chrungoo maintained.
It is time that five Assembly seats are reserved for this victim nationalist community which has more than five thousand years of written history in the Kashmir valley by incorporating amendment in the constitution to this effect. "I make a fervent appeal to the Delimitation Commission to exercise their powers to send such a recommendation to the President and the government of India in order to settle the unsettled issue of politically important concern of the Pandit community. It will also help paving way for the resettlement of the community in the valley, eventually, as per their geo-political aspirations in the days to come in future", he further said.
Chrungoo also made a request to the government headed by the LG, Manoj Sinha to seriously consider to operationalize the 4G facility to the entire UT of Jammu and Kashmir after having conducted the DDC elections so successfully to the contentment of all concerned. It is high time to grant a new year gift to the people of the UT for their huge turnout in the Zila Parishad election process.(KNS)