The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PADG), which seeks the restoration of Article 370 and statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday said it has decided to stage a protest in Srinagar on the January 1 against the draft proposal of the Delimitation Commission to grant six additional seats to Jammu and only one to Kashmir division.
The decision to hold a protest in Srinagar was announced by alliance spokesman M.Y. Tarigami after a meeting of PADG leaders in Jammu. “This draft proposal is unacceptable to us and the people,’’ he said. “We firmly believe that it is a divisive proposal and it will create fissure and damage the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
The draft proposal was shared by Delimitation Commission with MPs from J&K—three from NC and two from BJP—who are associate members of the Commission in Delhi on Monday.
The draft has proposed the addition of seven assembly seats while nine seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and seven for Scheduled Tribes (ST). That will take the number of assembly seats in J&K to 90. Two women will be nominated like before.
Before Article 370 was read down and J&K was reorganised on August 5, 2019, the J&K assembly was an 87-member house. Kashmir had 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh four.
Tarigami said many political parties, well-known civilians and civil society members have challenged the act in the Supreme Court under which the Delimitation Commission has been set up. He said the government should have waited for the SC decision.
“The draft proposal that has come to the fore has ignored the 2011 Census. We believe only the Census is the basis for carrying out such an exercise,’’ he said. He further said: “We want that the population should be taken into consideration and seats should be increased transparently.”
He said if someone has a problem with the 2011 Census, then wait till the next Census is carried out in the country and then undertake delimitation in J&K. He said the Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the J&K government led by Farooq Abdullah to defer delimitation till 2026. He said the delimitation should be carried out in J&K when it is held in the rest of the country
“On the one hand, the BJP says it wants mainstreaming politics in Kashmir but on the other hand, it is taking steps that will harm the interests of the people in J&K and the rest of the country,’’ he said.
He said National Conference (NC) MPs Farooq and Hasnain Masoodi have made it clear to the Commission that the draft proposal was unacceptable and that it is not as per the wishes of the people. Tarigami added that the proposal was a step to create distance between the regions which is the agenda of BJP in the country and J&K. “This proposal is reflective of that policy,’’ he said.
He said in the All Party Conference (APC) with J&K leaders, the prime minister had talked about bridging the distance of heart and distance from Delhi, but sadly this proposal has further created wedges between regions and broke many hearts. He said efforts are being made to pit Muslims against Hindus and Gujjars against Paharis for the sake of a vote.
“We have decided that we will use every platform and approach everyone including those who do not agree with us and make them aware of its severe implications. We want peace and in no way, we want confrontation but for the legitimate rights of our people we will continue to raise your voice,’’ he said.
Answering a question, Masoodi said that they rejected the proposal when it was shared with them. “This exercise is against the constitution and it offends the core constitutional values,’’ he said. We told the Commission that proposal is not in line with the Census and we reject it,’’ he said. He said they will contest the proposal and file objections before December 31.
To a question why the PAGD was objecting to Jammu getting a major share of the additional seats, given grievances in Jammu about underrepresentation in assembly, Tarigami said Jammu is also theirs. “We are questioning the criteria adopted by the commission,’’ he said.
He said the BJP is doing it to divert the attention of people from growing inflation and employment. “In November alone, 68 lakh people were rendered jobless,’ he said.
According to the Census of 2011, Muslims in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir constitute a majority with 68 per cent. Kashmir constitutes 56 .2 per cent of the total population of 1.25 crores and Jammu 43.8 per cent. The seat share of Kashmir was 55 .4 per cent and Jammu’s 44.6 per cent. When the draft proposal is implemented, Kashmir’s seat share will come down to 52.2 per cent while Jammu’s will rise to 47.8 per cent.
The draft proposal has been opposed by J&K leaders like Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba and Sajad Lone. “It is deeply disappointing that the commission appears to have allowed the political agenda of the BJP to dictate its recommendations rather than the data,’’ tweeted NC vice president Omar Abdullah. “The draft recommendation of the J&K delimitation commission is unacceptable. The distribution of newly created assembly constituencies with 6 going to Jammu & only 1 to Kashmir is not justified by the data of 2011,” he wrote in a tweet.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also weighed in on the issue. She said the commission has been created to serve BJPs political interests by dividing people along religious and regional lines. “My apprehensions about the Delimitation Commission were not displaced,’’ she tweeted. “They want to pitch people against each other by ignoring the population census & proposing 6 seats for one region & only one for Kashmir.”
Peoples Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone said the proposal smacks of a bias and is shocking for those who believe in democracy. “The recommendations of the delimitation commission are unacceptable. They reek of bias. What a shock for those who believe in democracy,” Lone tweeted.
Delimitation in J&K was done in 1963, 1973 and 1995 when the state was under President’s Rule.
