Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, June 23: Rejecting demand of ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators on setting up Minority Commission in the State, Minister for Social Welfare Sajjad Gani Lone today said there is a need to merge Muslims of Kashmir into mainstream of India as they have suffered immensely due to ongoing turmoil in the region.
“It is the time that Muslims of Kashmir need to be merged into national mainstream of India. They need incentives and healing touch as they have suffered a lot,” the Minister said while replying to the query of BJP legislators in the Upper House.
The BJP members including Vibodh Gupta and Charanjeet Singh, Ashok Khajuria and Ramesh Arora were demanding establishment of Minority Commission and minority status to the Hindus and Sikhs of the State.
However, the Minister categorically rejected the demand, saying it will add fuel to the fire in the State. “There are Hindu majority districts in Jammu and Muslim majority districts in Kashmir. We cannot declare minorities at block levels; we have to follow national criteria,” he said and added that it is upto Centre to declare minorities and not State.
The categorical rejection of setting up Minority Commission and declaring Hindus and Sikhs as religious minorities by Government infuriated the BJP legislators who stood up from their benches and termed it “injustice”. The BJP lawmaker, Vibodh Gupta, tried to get into the Well and created uproar against the Government’s rejection.
“Is this a conspiracy (not to declare Hindus religious minority in State)? Please forgive me but I have to talk and I think it is a conspiracy,” Gupta said. “It is human right violation with Hindus that despite being in the minority they are not getting benefits akin to minorities throughout the country get,” he said, adding: “You are not declaring 30 percent population as minority, it is injustice,” he shouted while being supported by other BJP legislators.
Another BJP legislator, Charanjeet Singh said People’s Democratic Party (PDP) promised minority status to Sikhs and Minority Commission prior to elections but is now retracting. Surinder Ambardar of BJP also demanded the Minority Commission in the State.
The BJP members entered into a verbal spar with NC legislator Qaiser Jamsheed Lone after the latter claimed that minorities in India are migrating from country since BJP took over the charge of the country. Lone’s remarks came in reaction to the claim of BJP’s Ambardar who said he is receiving reports that after Pandits now Sikhs are “silently migrating from Kashmir”.
Earlier, in a written reply to the clubbed questions of Vibodh Gupta, Dharamvir Singh and Charanjeet Singh regarding whether the State Government intend to set up Minority Commission, the Minister incharge Social Welfare said that there is no such proposal. He said no community has been declared as Minority by the State.
“However community-wise percent of declared national minorities in the state is as: Muslim 68.31 percentage, Sikh 1.87 percent, Christian 0.28 percent, Buddhist 0.90 percent and Jain 0.02,” he informed. The Minister said the Sikhs are already religious minority declared by National Minority Commission, Government of India.
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