Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, June 28: A seminar on Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that supposedly confers special status to J&K organized by a social organization “Mari Umeed” was held here.
Member of Parliament from the Jammu, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Jagdeep Dhankhar, former Union Minister and senior Supreme Court advocate and Nalin Kohli, a spokesperson of the BJP addressed the audience on the subject.
While highlighting the manner in which even a mention let alone a discussion on Article 370 has been suppressed over many decades, all speakers expressed happiness at the prospect of the subject coming under purview of an open debate.
They said that there was a need to address the subject beyond party lines and purely in the national interest.
Jugal Kishore gave an impassioned narration on the manner in which Article 370, instead of connecting J&K to India is creating walls and barriers. He reinforced his contention by explaining the manner in which the legislation has stalled development, negatively impacted important parameters like health and education and restricted political empowerment at the grass roots level of Sarpanchs and Panchs.
With his amplification he proved that Article 370 has been instrumental in restricting empowerment of the people and has denied to them the opportunity to stand on their own feet.
While stressing on the inherently temporary nature of the Article that Sheikh Abdullah tried his level best to remove, Dhankar narrated the historical manner in which the bill was passed in Parliament as a temporary legislation.
The arguments put forth by the two main speakers reflected that there are many benefits that people of India enjoy due to democratic practices and overall development that are denied to the people of J&K due to Article 370. A good example is that while Other Backward Classes in India get 27 percent reservation, in J&K they have not been identified all because of Article 370.
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