J&K Parties Rage Against Delimitation Panel's Proposal, Term it ‘Disempowering’

Srinagar: Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government stating that the outcome of the Delimitation Commission’s proposal was not surprising as it was a part of the larger onslaught on democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Talking to reporters outside her party headquarter in Srinagar, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader said that her party believed that the Delimitation Commission was meant to disempower everyone in the interest of the BJP.

“BJP wants to strengthen its own constituencies and wants to disempower the majority communities,” she said, adding that the Right-wing party was pursuing the agenda of Nathuram Godse, Mahatama Gandhi’s assassin. 

“They are not listening to anyone in this country and are pursuing the agenda of Godse. They want to change Gandhi’s India into Godse’s India and Jammu and Kashmir is being used as a laboratory for experimentation,” Mehbooba said.  

The PDP president warned that the delimitation exercise being carried out in J&K would be repeated undoubtedly in the rest of the country when the time suits the ruling BJP. 

Mehbooba’s sharp reaction comes days after the Delimitation Commission shared its second draft with its members triggering opposition from regional political players, including the PDP. 

National Conference (NC) General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar on Sunday denounced the draft proposal, saying the party would not accept attempts to “divide” people of J&K. 

“The draft recommendations are bizarre. The panel has gone by its own wish. It's a sheer mockery of universally accepted and constitutionally established norms of representation,” a former minister Sagar said. 

The Delimitation Commission was set-up in March 2020 for redrawing Sssembly seats in the Union territory within a deadline of one year. The deadline, however, was extended till March this year but, the first two drafts shared by the commission, chaired by Justice (Retd.) Ranjana Prakash Desai has evoked criticism. The commission has proposed massive changes in the region, which includes incorporating distant and geographically divided Pir Panjal valley areas into Anantnag Parliamentary seat, a change that many see as drastic. 

Both PDP and NC have said they would formulate a detailed response to the fresh draft after collecting inputs from their respective constituencies. Not just PDP and NC but, Sajad Lone-led Peoples Conference, a former ally of BJP, in a statement said that they also believed that the exercise was an attempt to “disempower and disenfranchise” people of Kashmir. 

“The Delimitation Commission’s refusal to change its earlier assertions is least surprising. And as if to add salt to the wounds of Kashmiris, we have a new wondrous invention in the form of a parliamentary constituency invented by merging two regions – South Kashmir and Rajouri,” the party’s official spokesperson read. 

The inhabitants of these two regions, the statement added, have totally different aspirations, the problems and challenges they face are completely different, the topography is different and yet for reasons best known to the commission, they actually merged two distinct regions to carve out a single Parliamentary Constituency. 

Similar concerns against the exercise were expressed by CPI(M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami, a senior politician in J&K, calling the commission's suggestions as “arbitrary overhaul in the existing territorial constituencies with no regard for even the terrain, let alone the population.“

“The draft proposal shared by the commission with its associate members seems even incongruous with the commission's earlier argument of taking into account the topography and difficult terrain while re-mapping the poll constituencies,” Tarigami said.

Tarigami is also the spokesperson of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a lose group of regional political parties formed to advocate the restoration of pre-August 5 status of J&K. The group is expected to hold a meeting on February 13 following which they are likely to present a united response to the delimitation report.

The parties have so far voiced serious reservations against the entire exercise, which they believe, is aimed to destabilise local representation of NC and PDP. A PDP insider told NewsClick that so far the recommendation only points out that the redrawing has been done in a manner that both PDP and NC lose ground. “There are changes which help only the BJP’s own interests and those of their allies who have traditionally not been successful in turning their candidates as winners,” the member said, wishing anonymity.

PDP members, however, were disappointed with NC, whose three MPs are associate members of the commission. The NC participated in the last commission meeting in December 2020 after boycotting it initially.