The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed two key bills on Jammu and Kashmir with Union Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that these bills will give justice to those who are deprived of their rights for the last 70 years.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill were passed in the lower house by voice vote.
Earlier, replying to a debate on the bills, Shah asserted that reservation to the displaced people will give them a voice in the legislature.
"The Bill that I have brought here pertains to bringing justice to and providing rights to those against whom injustice was done, who were insulted and those who were ignored,” the home minister said as he claimed that there is a huge difference between giving rights and giving rights respectfully.
“In any society, those who are deprived should be brought forward. That is the basic sense of the Constitution of India. But they have to be brought forward in a way that doesn't reduce their respect. There is a huge difference between giving rights and giving rights respectfully. So, instead of weak and deprived category renaming it to Other Backward Class is important," he said, reported ANI.
Accusing the opposition parties of using the issues in Kashmir for “vote bank politics”, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the pain of the poor.
“Modi is a leader who was born into a poor family and became the Prime Minister of the country today. He knows the pain of the poor," the home minister said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend section 2 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 to change the nomenclature of “weak and under privileged classes (social castes)” to “other backward classes”.
The second bill seeks to provide representation to Kashmiri migrants, displaced Persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and scheduled tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir "to preserve their political rights as well as for their overall social and economic development".
