Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 4 : BJP National Executive Member & J&K Chief Spokesperson Dr Jitendra Singh today called upon the National Conference (NC)-Congress Coalition Government to bring in a legislation to reduce the term of Jammu & Kashmir State Assembly to five years thus paving the way for immediate election to the Legislative Assembly, possibly along with the Lok Sabha election, since the present Assembly has already completed five years of its current term. In a statement issued here today he said,in the wake of countrywide debate on the merits of Article 370,this is the most opportune time for all the political parties of the State to rise above party lines and reiterate their faith in democratic values by ending the anomaly of 6 years term for J&K Assembly which is a glaring example of the misuse of Article 370 at the cost of electoral rights of the people of the State irrespective of whether they hail from Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir.
Recalling the chronology of events, Dr Jitendra Singh stated that 6 year term of the Assembly is a grim reminder of the authoritarian emergency period from 1975 to 1977 which has gone down as the darkest phase in the history of independent India and a blotch on democracy. He reminded that the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had,with the help of then President, Fakr-ud-Din Ali Ahmed, managed the infamous 42nd Amendment (1976) of the Indian Constitution simply to defer elections to Parliament as well as State legislatures and thus facilitate uninterrupted continuance of the autocratic rule unleashed by her but the Amendment was promptly reversed when the Janata Party Government took over under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani as senior Cabinet Ministers. Ironically, however, he pointed out that while the the then J&K Government headed by Sheikh Abdullah was quick to adopt the Center’s Amendment extending Assembly’s term from 5 to 6 years, it conveniently turned a blind eye to the Center’s legislation reversing the Amendment to restore the term back to 5 years. As a result, the J&K Assembly term continues to be 6 years ever since the 1977 elections.
Dr Jitendra Singh asked,what could be a better vindication than this of the fact that Article 370 has been selectively used, or misused, to suit the convenience of a small coterie of ruling polity in the State with no concern for the welfare of people. He said, it is for the NC led Government to explain, what “advantage” it saw in adopting 6 year term notwithstanding Article 370 and what “disadvantage” it now sees in reverting to 5 year term citing the constraints of Article 370 ?
Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is also a question mark on the Congress Party’s position on this issue since the party accepts 5 year term in all the other States ruled by it but allows a 6 year term in the State of J&K where it is in coalition with the NC. Has this something got to do with the Rahul-Omar nexus,he asked.
On a similar analogy, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the debate can be extended further to ask, for instance, what is the disadvantage in allowing 73rd and 74th Amendments of Indian Constitution to empower the local Panchayats.
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