Jammu, December 26: Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, a senior BJP and Kashmiri Pandit leader and Incharge Deptt of Political Affairs and Feedback, J&K-BJP lambasted Mani Shanker Aiyer in a Webinar organised by the Centre for Peace & Progress, New Delhi today. The topic of the Webinar was: “J&K – The Road Ahead” and was convened by O. P. Shah, the Chairman of the Centre.
When during his presentation, the Congress estranged leader Mani Shanker Aiyer said that the peace can’t come to Jammu and Kashmir unless the present government at the centre is changed, Chrungoo made a scathing verbal attack on him and also asked him whether Aiyer would like to take help of Pakistan also to take on the central government to achieve his goal. He told him categorically that the people of Jammu and Kashmir may be left to themselves to manage their affairs and they need no guidance from people like Aiyer to bring peace and development to their Union Territory. Aiyer was very critical of the union government’s actions of 5/6 August 2019, development plank, DDC elections and the peace process.
The webinar was attended by a number of prominent personalities of Jammu and Kashmir including among others Prof. GM Bhat, Yousuf Tarigami, A.M.Watali, Ishwar D Khajuria, Kuldeep Khuda, Prof. G.K.Muju, Ruchi Chouhan Khan, Dr. Qazi Ashraf, Sshuja Zafar and Sajjad Noorabadi. Every speaker congratulated the government and the people for successfully participating in the recently held DDC elections.
Chrungoo in his presentation made it emphatically clear that the huge turn-out in the DDC elections is a clear signal of the urge of the people for peace and development. “There has to be a forward march towards ending discrimination with the people of the UT through the intervention of the Delimitation Commission now”, he said.
On an analysis of the election campaign, voting pattern and the election results, it is clear that the equal distribution of seats between both the Jammu and Kashmir regions has played a pivotal role in creating trust and satisfaction among the people of the Union Territory for the first time, politically speaking, added Chrungoo. “There can’t be two opinions about the facts of discrimination and bias against the region of Jammu in respect of delimitation earlier which allotted three seats to the Kashmir valley and two seats only to the Jammu region for the parliament in addition to giving 46 assembly seats to Kashmir and 37 seats to Jammu division, he added. This was and remains a violation of the fundamental rights in terms of equality and equal opportunities irrespective of anything called logic or rationale in regard to the citizens of the erstwhile state.
“The Kashmiri Pandit community which is living as refugees in their own country for the last more than three decades have very meager chances to get their representatives elected to the politically important forums. They also need attention and redressal through the Delimitation Commission.
Chrungoo further said that moreover, the West Pakistan refugees, sections of Valmiki Samaj and Gorkha community will also add up to the overall demographic vicissitudes now since they have also voted in the DDC elections for the first time recently. The census of 2011 can’t be the only criteria that need to be the basis for the delimitation. Many other factors also require to be taken into consideration by the commission.
