The ‘secular’ Bahujan Samaj Party is pitching in favour of abrogating Article 370 and dividing J&K into three States. It believes that the Scheduled Castes are getting a raw deal presently
No one had ever expected that the ‘secular’ Bahujan Samaj Party would oppose Article 370 under which Jammu & Kashmir enjoys a special status within the Indian Union, and demand not only its abrogation in the “national interest” but also the “trifurcation” of the State into Jammu, Kashmir and ladakh States.
On October 18, State BSP president Tulsi Dass langeh declared that if the Scheduled Castes and other backward classes are to enjoy the rights and privileges in J&K which are available to their counterparts in the rest of the country, they have to ensure the abrogation of Article 370 and division of the State into Jammu, Kashmir and ladakh. He declared in a public meeting that the BSP would further intensify its campaign to achieve these objectives.
But this is not the first occasion that the BSP has demanded the abrogation of Article 370 and the division of J&K. Mr langeh only reiterated what BSP national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Narinder Kashyap had said in Jammu on August 2. He had come to ask his party cadres to launch a relentless campaign to achieve the two objectives: Abrogation of Article 370 and trifurcation of the State.
Justifying the demand for trifurcation, the BSP lawmaker had said: “We have decided to take up the issue of Statehood for Jammu in the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha because our party is in support of smaller States”. He disclosed that the BSP had “already devised a strategy to take this agitation to its logical conclusion”.
Mr Kashyap had not only described Article 370 as the root cause responsible for the neglect and marginalisation of Jammu province and the SCs and the OBCs, but also spoken the language of the BJP. “This Article is only serving interests of the ruling elites. It is the main hurdle in the implementation of Central schemes for the socio-economic and political regeneration of weaker sections in the State”, they had said and claimed that the “party has already generated a debate to highlight ‘abuse’ of Article 370 by the ruling elites, which have snatched all the constitutional rights of weaker sections under the garb of special status”.
The arguments advanced by the BSP leaders are as valid as they deserve a positive consideration and recognition. Article 370, which was fundamentally bad, retrograde and fatal for the paramount national interests in the State, was designed to thwart and delay indefinitely the realisation of the people’s most cherished goal of responsible, accountable, corruption-free and transparent system of governance. It would be no exaggeration to say that Article 370 curtailed the Fundamental Right of the people to shape and control their socio-economic and political future within India and under the Indian Constitution.
The SCs and the OBCs constitute almost 30 per cent of Jammu’s population and these social groups are spread across the province, barring the Poonch district. They can tilt the balance in favour of any party in as many as 30 out of 37 Assembly segments into which Jammu province has been territorially divided. It is obvious that Ms Mayawati and her think-tanks have taken all these factors into consideration before demanding abrogation of Article 370 and trifurcation of the State. The SCs and the OBCs, like all other sections of society in Jammu, constitute the most neglected lot and they can turn towards the BSP.
It is important to note that the BSP is not the only party that has upped the ante and demanded trifurcation of the State. The Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party, the Shiv Sena, the RSS-floated Jammu State Morcha, the Dogra liberation Front, the Duggar Pradesh Party and a number of similar other smaller political groups have also decided to intensify their campaign to force the authorities to trifurcate/reorganise the State.
These developments have alarmed the so-called mainstream Kashmiri leaders like Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and separatists like APHC-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The National Conference leadership has been denouncing the demand as communal, parochial and anti-national, and the separatists have been describing it as a “conspiracy hatched by New Delhi to weaken the ongoing secessionist movement”.
(The writer is former Dean of Social Sciences, Jammu University)