“The meeting with political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is an important step in the ongoing efforts towards a developed and progressive J&K, where all-round growth is furthered.
Our priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy in J&K. Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen, and J&K gets an elected Government that gives strength to J&K’s development trajectory.
Our democracy’s biggest strength is the ability to sit across a table and exchange views. I told the leaders of J&K that it is the people, especially the youth who have to provide political leadership to J&K, and ensure their aspirations are duly fulfilled.’ PM Modi in a tweet.
PM Modi chaired a high-level meeting recently with leaders of various political parties of J&K. Detailed discussions were done on strengthening democracy in J&K, with valley leaders, Home Minister, Lt Governor, BJP leaders but leaders from the Jammu region and Ladhak, Shia leaders, Dogras, Valmiki Samaj and other inhabitants who recently came from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and given citizenship under CAA were not invited. Moves are afloat that other leaders may be invited on 1st July, may be after the cabinet reshuffle.
Delhi informed the J&K political leaders of the steps that had been taken since the constitutional restructuring. But more interesting was that Hon’ble PM, did not give any firm timeline or even roadmap on when statehood would be restored!
Thank you, Mehbooba Mufti, for the cue for this week’s ‘National Interest’. As the key J&K alliance, PAGD, or the much hated Gupkar gang, announced its acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation for the all-party meeting in Delhi, she said that India should also talk with Pakistan to find a final solution to the J&K issue. And then asked, somewhat rhetorically, “If India is talking to the Taliban, what’s wrong with talking to Pakistan?” shouted a famous anti Modi online ‘Vortal’. But during the meeting she spoke not a single word and accepted the abrogation of the Article 370 and 35A. The clouds which were making so much noise just dispersed, withered and wilted away.
National Conference, another dynasty party of J&K, leaders who used to shout, howl and scout that nothing less than restoration of the Article 370 and Article 35A, and whose tallest leader by height and shortest leader in stature, who used to roam around with a famous film actress, now wants delimitation, then restoration of statehood and then elections. The party which played into Pakistan and ISI and then help from our arch enemy mainland China knows he can’t play that kashmiriyat is in trouble and the party which used to get involved in every scandal now have become ‘meek kittens and domesticated pets’ and their only hope is Modi.
The former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, from Congress, who did not vacate his palatial house in the Lutyens Delhi, with a hope that he may be given a seat again, said that the Congress has placed five demands before the centre. Azad, who was aided by his Congress companions Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Tara Chand, said that the meeting took place in a conducive environment and that there was no hostility between the participants. Azad also revealed that there were no restrictions in the meeting & representatives were allowed to bring up any issue speak freely without any time constraint. In fact the meeting was ‘agenda less’, and PM had kept no further engagement on that day.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said that:
Restoration of statehood is first & foremost;
Conduct elections to the legislative assembly as the environment is now conducive, considering the ceasefire at LoC and the smooth conduct of DDC polls. Congress gave credit to the Modi Government for bringing grass root democracy in the entire J&K;
The third demand, he said, was to restore domicile laws held by citizens of JK;
Fourth is that the Centre should assist the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley, who have been in exile for over 30 years now. Congress did not cared for the KPs as new revelations indicate that during the killings of the hapless KPs, the volume of ‘azaan’ was raised to the highest decibel such that sound of wailing women and continuous gun firing do not reach nearby army cantonment to the army or BSF posts; and
The fifth Congress demand is that political prisoners detained in the aftermath of abrogation of Article 370 should be released immediately.
PM Modi said he wanted to end ‘Dilli ki duri’ as well as ‘Dil ki duri’ with J&K which has been witnessing prolonged spell of militancy, firing and unrest.
The next step will be delimitation of the entire state. Why do we need delimitation in J&K.? The assembly representation is extremely skewed. On one hand in the Kashmir valley on every 30,000 to 35,000 votes, there is a MLA but in the Jammu and the Ladhak region this number was around 80,000 to 1,00,000. How this happened. There was a secret Nehru Abdullah accord which kept both of them in power. The whole Kashmir problem is the gift of Abdullahs and Nehru family and ably aided by the Mufti family. Mufti family, though CM of the entire state did not enter the Holy Vaishno Devi shrine, when he went along with Late Abdul Kalam saheb.
Today the nation came to know for the 1st time that the population of Kashmir Valley is 53 lakhs, the population of Jammu region is 69 lakhs and that of Ladakh is 5 lakhs. The area of Kashmir is 16% of the total area of the erstwhile J&K. The area of Jammu is 25% & the remaining 59% of the area is that of Ladakh.
The thing to seriously ponder is that, Kashmir Valley is neither larger in area nor as a measure of population. Yet, the great Nehru Chacha gave 47 seats in the Legislative Assembly to Kashmir Valley but only 43 seats for Jammu and Ladakh combined.
Implications for this were, even if a Party or Alliance wins all the seats in Jammu and Ladakh region, they will never win power in the former J&K as the 47 seats in the Kashmir valley voted as one Islamic bloc. Few seats were earmarked for the PoK region, but how can elections be held in that region, which was Pak occupied Kashmir or (PoK).
This has been the case since Independence & Nehru again played one more of his disgusting game on the nation. The Gandhi family continued his despicable legacy in innumerable way to this day, by adding Article 35A in the constitution. Why do we need external enemies when the hereditary ruling Nehru-Gandhi family have effortlessly inflicted long term & permanent damage across the nation without firing a single bullet? Why, because we put them (& their regional political minions and cahoots) on the political pedestal & continue to keep them there while they grind us into the earth. It must be ensured that the census is done before delimitation starts. Muslim population was jacked up by 10 lakhs fake Muslim names and addresses in the 2011 census, which was a big farce.
I thought that I may include the tweet by Abhijit Iyer.
‘Just spoke to a senior leader present in the PMs meeting on J&K. There seems a great variance in what certain leaders are saying to cameras and what was said to them – essentially the riot act was read out. First not one leader brought up the issue of 370 or 35A, despite what they’re claiming on camera outside the meeting room. They have all accepted this as fait accompli. Second they were told that the sequence of events will be as follows: Delimitation; Elections; Good Behaviour; Statehood. This is important because the delimitation will ensure that the balance of seats between J&K divisions will be as per their respective demography (and area). More importantly the relevant sections of the constitution with regards to reservations – specifically for SC/ST/OBC (such as bakarwals etc) will be implemented in full.
However this alone will not lead to statehood. Statehood while sequential, will depend entirely on how parties behave and support the deconfliction of the economy – mind you both NC & PDP derive much of their income from the conflict and are invested in it. Essentially the way it was described to me was a perfect balancing act between carrots and sticks. Their ability to monetise the conflict has been destroyed & now carrots are being dangled for them to create more palatable & legal avenues of fund raising to run their parties and powerbases. No clear deadline was given for when statehood will be bestowed and any bad behaviour by these two malignant parties will be used to deny statehood – essentially a dilemma has been created for them – do they bankrupt themselves sticking to the past or do they lose their voter base by embracing the new deconflicted avenues of money making’?
The latter means they will start generating money but they’d still have to cut off old corrupt fogeys who have no avenues of changing tack. Quite smart – especially given no specific assurances were given, but they have to keep performing like circus monkeys in the hope that something good MAY come their way. In short none of these jokers are actually being “accommodated” – they’re being dangled goodies to become domesticated pets or become irrelevant and live in penury.
It was made clear that these parties will have to EARN trust – given their past actions they’re not getting a free lunch – the onus is ENTIRELY on them to mend their ways – it’s no longer about what they want from Delhi, but rather what Delhi wants from them. All eyes are on Kashmiri players. The rules of the game are being redrafted. The buzz word is delimitation, democratisation and development with dignity. Most of the old players opted to be too careful in choosing their words. Almost all of them have been on the fences for long, idle and irrelevant. PM has offered them some space to play positive politics. After delimitation the unfair domination of the valley may be reduced. Old school players claim it is an attempt of the central government to check the superiority or the dominance of the valley over other regions of the state. It is a known fact that people of Jammu and Ladakh have been less citizens of the state. After elections of BDC, DDC and effectively controlling the routine protests and cross border terrorism activities this initiative may be the beginning of the end of old game of Kashmir. People of the region deserve equality in all respect. They should be given opportunity to participate in democratic process with dignity. Old players may have old designs but a number of new Kashmiris are ready to play the game with new set of rules.
Delimitation will be done. And that will increase seats of the Jammu region substantially. Once this begins, I hope more will happen with the demoralisation of the Muslim population and politicians. As I understand, it is ample clear that Article 370 will not be restored. Let us watch for a few days and trends will be crystal clear. Delimitation does not change demography! It should be done on the 2021 census as 2011 census is a big farce as they have increased Muslim population by 10 lakhs. The PM has diplomatically taken the sting out of Kashmiri politicians. He has done the Moditva master stroke and completely burnt the Nehruvian aura of a statesman!
The software with all updates in J&K was updated nearly two years ago in August 2019. All patches were updated, security updates were put in place, but the system had not been rebooted completely.
In the end of the three and a half hour long meeting was mostly along predictable lines. There was no grand announcements. And much to the disillusioned politicians who thought the constitutional reforms would be reversed, there was no backtracking on the fundamental constitutional changes in J&K.
Incidentally internal security situation of Pakistan is critical and we can’t trust them on face value. India is trying to achieve peace with China on the border as well.
My suggestion will be ‘census, delimitation, democratisation and statehood’. Apparently the ball has started rolling!
It is unwise to believe in the Muslim leaders of Jammu&Kashmir.If the Indian Govt.makes any compromises with those leaders,then it can be construed conveniently that India invites disasters to it