Omkar Dattatray
If anything has been criticized and opposed more and vehemently these days by the politicians and the political parties it is draft recommendations of the delimitation. It has become a fashion and habit of the politicians to criticize anything and everything just for remaining in the limelight and for showing their presence. Thus have the political parties across the spectrum criticized and virtually rejected the recommendations of the delimitation commission. Anything which is presumed to be Indian is often opposed and rejected by the politicians of Jammu and Kashmir and so the political parties have resorted to the criticism and opposition to the recommendations of the delimitation commission. Criticism and opposition is the right of the political parties and politicians in a democracy, but there should be constructive criticism and no criticism for the sake of criticism and this should not be allowed for the flourishing of the democratic spirit and democratic functioning. However this phenomenon of criticism for the sake of criticism and blind opposition is the bane of the democracy and it happens in India and pollutes the democracy. The political parties without exception but barring BJP are criticizing draft recommendations of the first and second draft recommendations and there seems to be unity in the political parties so for as the opposition to the proposals of the delimitation is concerned. Criticism is all good but we have to see it there is some merit and substance in the opposition and criticism of the recommendations of the delimitation commission by the political parties. One fails to understand as to why there is wholesale opposition to the recommendations of the delimitation commission. It fallows that the political parties particularly of the Kashmir region do not like the delimitation exercise as they think that the delimitation is not due and it should take place in 2026 and not in 2022 and they have reservations about constitution of the delimitation commission because they oppose the very constitution of the delimitation commission as they say that delimitation commission is unconstitutional and unlawful given the fact that it is the brainchild of the Reorganisation Act 2019 which according to the regional parties of Kashmir is illegal and stands challenged in the top court of the country. According to these political parties the delimitation commission lacks constitutional propriety. The regional political parties of National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, People’s Conference of Sajjad Lone, Apni party of Altaf Bukhari, CPIM and PAGD all are criticizing and out rightly reject the proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission. The President of PDP Mehbooba Mufti and Vice President of NC have fumed and fumbled over the report of the delimitation commission. Both these leaders have said that the recommendations of the delimitation commission are against the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and it is an effort to-disempower people of the Union Territory and hence, is unacceptable to people. The National Conference has objected the second draft proposal of delimitation commission and said that it is against mandate of commission as it had ignored the historical aspects, population ratio of the assembly segments and geography. Both first and second draft report of the delimitation commission evoked sharp and strong criticism from the mainstream political parties in Kashmir including the national conference and PDP. Lok Sabha Member of Parliament of National Conference from Anantnag Hassnain Masoodi submitted a 15page objection report to the delimitation commission in New Delhi. The National Conference has also filed its objections and dissident note to the commission on its first report. The first as well as the second report evoked sharp criticism from the mainstream political parties in Kashmir and some accusing commission of working at the behest of BJP. Masoodi said that there are set of fundamental guidelines for the exercise of the delimitation exercise and population should be given foremost importance. Delimitation exercise implies that the people should be given fair and equal representation and rights by the delimitation commission. But all important parameters have been thrown to winds by the commission. The factors of connectivity and continuity had been ignored. The delimitation commission recommendations were guided by BJPs political agenda, allege NC, PDP and PC. The valley based political parties expressed dismay over the recommendations of the delimitation commission in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that it to be carried out in furtherance of the BJPs political agenda. The recommendation of six assembly seats to Jammu and only one to Jammu is not acceptable to NC as it is not justified by the population census 2011.Omer Abdullah has said that the commission appears to have allowed the political agenda of BJP to dictate its recommendations rather than the data which should have been the only consideration. The peoples conference chairman said that the report is unacceptable as it reeks of bias. The PDP spokesman Suhail Bukhari said that the reported recommendations vindicate the apprehension of his party that the exercise has been carried out in furtherance of the BJP agenda. Since nine seats have been proposed for STs and this is the first time that seats have been proposed for STs in UT. The delimitation commission draft report proposes to overhaul assembly and Lok Sabha seat demarcations in Jammu & Kashmir. People across region have rejected the report and alleged that it is being guided by BJP. The political parties have rejected most of its recommendations. The political parties and circles in Jammu and Kashmir have called the draft unacceptable and say it to be discriminatory in nature. The number of seats for Jammu region will increase from 37 to 43 while Kashmir region will increase from 46to47 and another 24 seats will be reserved for Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Altaf Bukhari chief of Apni Party has also criticized the draft recommendations and said it to be the imitation of the Dixon plan aimed at dividing the people on communal lines. According to him the report has disappointed the people of Jammu and Kashmir and hence is unacceptable. Bukhari said that the commission did no ground exercise and implemented plan without consulting the peoples representatives in different constituencies with a motive to divide the people on communal lines. He condemned draft report of the delimitation commission calling it as injustice with the vast majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir. The fact should be appreciated that the increasing six assembly segments to Jammu and increasing one segment in Kashmir is understandable. The commission has tried to bridge the political discrimination with the Jammu region which is praise worthy and the political parties should not make unwarranted noise about this increase of the assembly seats. The delimitation commission is manned by the experienced people and has been created by the autonomous election commission of India and so the criticism of its being unconstitutional has not ground and is not tenable. While doing the delimitation exercise the commission would have followed some criteria in arriving at the proposed recommendations and so there should be no noise about it. The criteria of geography, demography, religion, region, recognized community status, reserved and non reserved categories, exiles, internally displaced persons and minorities should have been taken into consideration while framing the report of the delimitation. It seems that the commission has worked to foster the theme of cultural nationalism and it deserves all praise and appreciation. Since the aim of the delimitation commission is the fair and proper representation to various sections of the people and various regions so that commission should strive for fair representation to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. As there is resentment to the recommendations of the delimitation commission among people and so the commission should pay sincere heed to the genuine suggestions and criticisms of the political parties and should come with the final report which accommodates the suggestions and genuine demands of the political parties so that the political parties across the spectrum will appreciate the final recommendations. The political parties should not do blind opposition to the draft recommendations as the draft will be produced to the public domain for enlisting the suggestions and opinions of the public and so there should be no opposition to the recommendations. The delimitation commission should come to meet expectation of people of Jammu and Kashmir and accommodate the views of the political parties and the general public so that the final document reflects fair representation to all sections of people and different regions. Anyway, delimitation commission should pay heed to genuine objections and criticisms and suggestions besides accommodate the same in final report.
(The author is a retired Education Officer and Columnist).