NC committed for Statehood with special status
* CM wants Minority status for SMVDIME
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 5: Asserting that the Government of India must abolish the Union Territory type system of governance, with Legislative Assembly having no adequate powers, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that restoration of Statehood to the Jammu and Kashmir with special status is on the top of agenda of the National Conference.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
Replying to the discussion on the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s address in the J&K Legislative Assembly here today, the Chief Minister said, ” I most humbly request the Prime Minister of India to do away with the system of governance through Union Territories having Legislative Assembly, by making amendment in the Constitution. You either turn UT into state or control directly from the Centre having no Legislative Assembly,” Omar asserted.
“It is like as if you tie both the hands of a person at his back and ask him to fight,” the Chief Minister Omar remarked, apparently by sharing his pain in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
“It is very true that working in a Union Territory is extremely difficult. I hold my ears and ask who came up with this model of a UT with an Assembly. I say this openly, if our Prime Minister wants to give a gift to this country, it should be to abolish this system,” Omar remarked.
“If you want to keep a UT, then do not keep an Assembly; and if an area is fit to have an Assembly, then make it a state,” the Chief Minister said during his over an hour-long speech in the House.
“Under such type of governance, general public is the worst sufferer. You can’t deliver as per the aspiration of the people and fulfill commitments made with the public. So, it will be my humble appeal to the Union Govt that it must bring amendment and abolish this mechanism of governance in the country for the welfare of the general public,” Omar asserted.
Referring to the speech of a Legislator, who recently claimed that the Chief Minister had himself admitted that officers do not listen to him, Omar Abdullah said “though there is no truth in the statement but it is extremely difficult to run the Government with your hands tied. Having such a system is huge betrayal of the people’s mandate,” he added.
“How difficult it is to work under these conditions. While preparing a budget, would you change your finance secretary 10 days before presenting it?” Omar asked Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, who had been Finance Minister several times in the past.
“We were preparing the budget, and on social media, I read that the Finance Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir has been transferred, because now we are part of the UT cadre and transfers are not in our control- has been transferred to Delhi with immediate effect. This is the situation. Tell me, is there anywhere else in the country where, while a budget is being prepared, the Finance Secretary is suddenly told goodbye,” the Chief Minister said.
Thankfully, after speaking with the Chief Secretary, it was ensured that the Finance Secretary is retained till February 9, he added.
“Otherwise, he would have left, and I do not know under what circumstances the budget would have been prepared. This is the situation,” Omar remarked.
“The most important post in administration is considered to be the Resident Commissioner in Delhi, because his job is to coordinate with the Central Government, follow up on projects, and secure approvals. But our Resident Commissioner’s post has been given as an additional charge to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu. Now tell me, how will the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu also handle the work of the Resident Commissioner in Delhi?” Omar asked.
He, however, expected hope that the long pending Business Rules would be approved in the coming days.
“Until our Business Rules are approved-and work on this is goingon-it will take time because it is a complex issue. I am fully confident that in the coming days our Business Rules will be fixed. Until we receive full statehood, this confusion over Business Rules continues to trap many of our issues,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government framed the Transaction of Business Rules in March last year and sent the file to the LG for approval to facilitate smooth governance without confusion.
Referring to the remarks of some of the members in the House that NC is only projecting Statehood demand and not speaking on Article 370 and 34-A, Omar said provisions of special status like Article 370, 34-A are already there in the Constitution. They (New Delhi) have dropped the same from the Constitution. We need not to go into such a detail. When the Statehood is returned, these special provisions will ultimately will be accorded to J&K.”
“And if the Union Government drops these special provisions from the Constitution, our Government will pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly demanding inclusion of these provisions in the Constitution and forward to the Parliament,” Omar Abdullah stated.
The Chief Minister claimed that National Conference is committed for the restoration of full statehood to the Jammu and Kashmir with special status.
Commenting on the issue of closure of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Medical Institute of Excellence (SMVDIME), in Katra, The Chief Minister said some people celebrated the occasion and distributed sweets, which is most unfortunate. He said some people in Jammu raised this issue because majority of Muslim children managed seats in the selections list.
“When you adopted NEET exam as basic for the entry in the Medical College, then there should not be any problem who secures seats. Moreover, a doctor do not provide treatment to a patient on the basis of his religion. There should not be any politics over such issues. A doctor will have to perform in Doda, Rajouri, Jammu. Udhampur or any part of Kashmir including Kupwara. The people raising such issues should stop dividing people on the basis of religion,” Omar asserted.
“We did not differentiate between students on religious lines. For me, whether a student is Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian, or Buddhist-everyone is equal. As far as this Medical College is concerned, from what I have read, an investment of around Rs 300 crore has gone into its establishment. That investment should not be wasted.
“I respectfully request that you grant this Medical College Minority status and resume its opeartions,” Abdullah said pointing towards BJP.
He said there would be no objection if Muslim students did not study at the Medical College and that they could be accommodated elsewhere, provided it was designated as an identified institution for their choice of students.
He said his primary concern was to ensure that future generations continued to get opportunities.
Emphasising the need to produce more doctors, Abdullah said Medical professionals do not treat patients on the basis of religion and he had never seen any doctor in Jammu and Kashmir discriminate against patients on religious grounds.
He said that if there were objections to the student composition, the institution should have been declared a Minority college, noting that the NEET system was accepted with full knowledge that admissions would be purely merit-based.
He said shutting down the entire college over this issue was self-defeating.
Abdullah said no one intended to question religious faith, but added that if faith-based concerns were genuine, the appropriate course would be to declare such institutions as minority institutions, noting that they did not require Government grants due to sufficient private donations.
The Chief Minister said despite claims to the contrary, the first delegation to the LG opposing Medical College admissions had come from the BJP. “While there may be debate over celebrations post closure of the college, it was the opposition that had created the issue, and he had now placed a solution before the House.”
Referring to the BJP’s demand for National Law University in Jammu, he said there are similar concerns as the admissions in such an institute would also be merit-based.
He questioned whether protests would again be held if Muslim students formed a majority through merit, leading to demands for closure of that institution as well.
Omar accused BJP members of raising the issue of discrimination with Jammu only when they had nothing else to offer politically, questioning why the same voices were silent when the age-old Darbar Move was abolished and announced in the Union Budget as a thing of the past.
The Abdullah-led Government restored the Darbar Move, a practice under which the Government used to function six months each in Srinagar and Jammu last year after it was halted by the LG administration in June 2021. The decision to revive Darbar Move was welcomed by people of Jammu, especially by the traders.
“The people familiar with the region had told me there was a significant difference between market conditions last year and this year, with markets now witnessing renewed activity, better business and increased footfall,” he said.
Omar said if the biggest injustice done to Jammu in recent years had to be identified, it was the cancellation of the Darbar Move, a decision which his Government had corrected by restoring it.
“Those speaking of discrimination should have opposed it when it was actually taking place,” he said.
He further said the National Conference had consistently attempted to maintain parity between Jammu region and Kashmir valley, citing examples such as establishing universities in both regions while Kashmir was completely ignored when IIT and IIM were set up in Jammu.
Training guns on the BJP, Omar Abdullah said they are asking us to give report card. We are here in the Govt for the past just 15 months. They have been ruling at the Centre for the last more than twelve years. They must show the report card of their performance first. What about the promises of Rs 15 lakhs and two crores jobs etc. We have not heard about Rs 15 lakh being deposited in people’s account. What about their promise of restoration of statehood, Omar asked.
Replying to the remarks of LOP that statehood will not be restored till PM Modi is convinced that guns have fallen silent in J&K and killings stopped, Omar said how so many innocent tourists were killed at Pahalgam and Pulwama. How so many people were killed at Delhi in blasts recently. What is the reply with the BJP. Nobody knows who were the people behind Pahalgam attack. No such brutal incident happened in J&K when there was peak of militancy between 1990-96 in J&K. There is no justification of giving such reasons, he added.
Launching attack on another BJP Member Sham Lal Sharma, Omar said Sharma has put forth a demand of separate state for Jammu which is surprising. The people of Jammu must take lesson from the happening in Ladakh. ” We get Statehood or not that is separate issue, perhaps they are dreaming of getting separate state by dividing region on the communal lines,’ Abdullah added.
He termed his remarks against Kashmiris that they can not be trusted and they are anti-nationals as most unfortunate. And said that such a senior member must avoid such remarks of creating division in the society.
The post Centre must abolish UT system of governance having Assembly: Omar appeared first on Daily Excelsior.