The Centre on Thursday announced that the Government is willing to hold elections in Jammu & Kashmir along with Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held by May this year.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said if the Election Commission wants to hold elections in the State along with general elections then the Government will have no objection.
Rajnath said there would be no obstruction from the Centre for holding elections in the Valley and whatever security force the Election Commission would desire will be provided. The Governor’s rule was imposed as no one came forward to form the Government, the Home Minister mentioned.
Jammu & Kashmir was last month placed under President’s Rule, six months after the BJP pulled out of Mehbooba-led Government. “If the EC wants (to hold elections in J&K along with general elections), our Government will have no objection,” Rajnath said replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on proclamation of imposition of Central rule in the State.
Singh also said the Government supported an all-party delegation holding talks with separatist Hurriyat but their doors were shut.
Initiating the debate on resolution to impose President’s Rule in Jammu & Kashmir Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had attacked the BJP for “destablising” the Government in the State.
Along with several other Rajya Sabha members from Opposition bench, Azad alleged that the BJP tried to split Congress, NC and PDP in the State to form its own Government. Intervening in the debate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recalled history of alleged rigged elections that alienated away people of the State.
Congress supported the resolution moved by the Home Minister to approve proclamation issued by the President on December 19, 2018 under Article 356 of the Constitution of India in relation to Jammu & Kashmir. The resolution has already been passed by the Lok Sabha on December 28, 2018.
Rejecting Opposition criticism that BJP’s “unnatural” alliance with PDP had alienated population, Singh reeled out statistics to drive home the development without appeasement agenda of his party. “Allegations are being heaped on us but I want to make it clear that our intentions cannot be doubted,” he said.
The Home Minister said he had told Chief Minister Mufti to try and speak to Hurriyat. “We were ready for unconditional talks. They did not respond to our initiative,” he said. He reeled out statistics on employment of locals in security forces to counter Opposition charge that unemployement was creating unrest in the Valley.
“In 1995, there were 5,938 terror incidents. In 2017 there were only 342 terrorist-related incidents,” he said. “Our endeavour is that there should not be a single act of terrorism.”
Azad held BJP responsible for what he said was “100 per cent alienation” in the State, alleging the Government has brought this in the culture of State administration on how many Hindu or Muslim officials are appointed by them.
Relying to Azad’s accusations, Jaitley said if the Congress leaders want to become statesmen then they have to get out of blame game. He also said Congress cannot get away with its responsibility regarding the situation of alienation in the State because “stone pelting incident came to light in your golden era only”. He also said: “You ruled the State and now you say that people are alienated”.
Jaitley said: “When history will decide which point of view--Shyama Prasad Mukherjee or Jawahar Lal Nehru - was right, then you will have problem.”
Speaking on the debate, Derek O’ Brien (TMC) attacked the BJP saying “nationalism is not the copyright of one party... you pretend to be nationalist...Ultra nationalist...Then heal Kashmir” and said that in actuality it may be “anti-national”. He said there was a tendency to leave out Laddakh and Leh in discussions on Jammu & Kashmir.