The Kashmir Files find major place
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 22: Union Minister for Minority Affairs and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said Article 370 of the Constitution was the root cause of all the problems in Jammu and Kashmir and the region is witnessing progress after its abrogation.
Article 370 used to act as a protective shield for terrorists and it also helped “dynastic and dishonest” politics in the erstwhile State, he said.
“Article 370 was the reason for the problems of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It was a protective shield for terrorists and helped dynastic and dishonest politics. Hence, it was required to be removed,” Naqvi said while taking part in a discussion on the budget for the Union Territory, in Rajya Sabha.
Taking a dig at the Opposition members, he said, “People spoke more on the reviews of The Kashmir Files, the film, rather than on the budget of Jammu and Kashmir”.”
The film has opened files that were buried and that contained the sins of some political families and parties, the Minority Affairs Minister said.
In fact, a number of members spoke on ‘The Kashmir Files’ during their budget speech.
“Now, the ground realities are changing after the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and a 30-member delegation from Gulf countries is touring the Union Territory to look for opportunities to invest in real estate, telecommunications, agriculture etc., Naqvi said.
“This is a major change after the BJP removed Article 370,” he said, adding, “Kashmir is now on the path of progress and prosperity.”
He said the Kashmiri people were never against India’s Constitution, but a handful of families indulging in dynastic politics were protecting Article 370.
“This dynastic politics and the legacy of dishonesty have been finished and as a result, Kashmir has a very positive and constructive environment today. Representatives from the Gulf are visiting the region now,” Naqvi said.
Seven new Medical Colleges, five Nursing Colleges and an AIIMS are being set up in the Union Territory, he said, adding that people are getting electricity and tap water at their doorstep under schemes such as Har Ghar Nal Yojana.
“People are realising that they have come out of a labyrinth of terrorism,” Naqvi said, adding that dynastic politics was playing an important role in strengthening the labyrinth.
Praising Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he said through the budget, the Centre is trying to extend benefits to Kashmiris.
On the remarks of some Opposition members that Parliament is discussing the budget of the Union Territory instead of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Naqvi said, “Earlier also, the budget was for Jammu and Kashmir but the money used to go from the Centre. This is not a new thing, whether it was your Government or ours.”
Moreover, earlier, the money sent by the Centre could never be audited because of Article 370, he pointed out.
“That robbery was 100 per cent exempted,” he said.
Naqvi said improving the situation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is a collective responsibility.
“We all want the people of Jammu, Kashmir, Kargil and Leh to flow in the stream of progress and this has to be strengthened,” he said.
Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy said Article 370’s revocation has opened the roads for development in Jammu and Kashmir which for years witnessed zero activity in the sector due to insurgency and lack of efforts of the previous Governments to improve the situation.
Reddy claimed that for many years the region did not see any tourism-related activity as tourists and even the Government officials wanted to keep a safer distance from the region.
He said the situation has improved drastically after the repeal of Article 370 as the Central Government has taken various initiatives to encourage the overall development in the region, including developing tourism opportunities and road-related infrastructure.
Reddy said the number of tourists in March this year stood at around 1.13 lakh, which was three times higher than the total number of tourists who arrived in UT in 2019.
“In the next three months, there is no availability of rooms…everything is sold out…did you ever thought this would happen…Due to the abolition of Article 370 and improvement in situation, people are now wanting to visit the place,” he said.
He said the Modi Government has taken many steps to improve the situation in the UT.
Reddy said the number of flights has been increased to both Jammu and Srinagar and also the road condition between Jammu and Srinagar has been improved leading to less travel time for delivery trucks and the general public.
“There was a demand pending for a tunnel under the Zojila pass for 50 years but previous Governments did not take action…Today we are investing Rs 5,000 crore on it…Earlier the completion date was 2026 but after Narendra Modi took stock of the situation, we expect it to be complete in 2024 itself,” the Minister noted.
Reddy also stated that the construction of rural roads was in full swing in the region.
He said the UT administration has pulled out all stops to generate employment for the youth.
Reddy said every month, Union Ministers have to report to the PMO for the steps taken for the development of the UT.
“Jammu and Kashmir has begun a new journey…it is transitioning from terrorism to tourism…during previous Governments it used to be terrorism and now it is tourism…earlier there use to be stone pelters now there are students on computers…Earlier there was corruption now there is accountability..” he said.
The Minister said earlier people used to burn the tricolour but now they are hoisting it atop their houses.
“So it’s a march from separatism to nationalism…we are working for the development of the region…,” Reddy said.
He said things were changing in the region and some of the “reports by international publications, which painted a different picture, were incorrect”.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in Jammu and Kashmir, no rewards are given on the basis of sects and no discrimination is done in this regard.
There was a brief uproar in the House and several members, including Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, objected to Rai’s remarks, questioning under what rules he spoke
Rajni Patil of the Congress, who is also party’s Incharge for Jammu and Kashmir, said Article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019 and the Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir taken away, but even after three tow and seven months, the situation there is not normal.
Citing a report on the economy of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Patil said after some months, the Union Territory had lost Rs 178.78 billion and 90,000 jobs in the handicraft and tourism sector. The horticulture sector is in distress and tourism is in shambles.
Moreover, the rural economy of Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing a decline for the first time in 70 years, she pointed out.
Accusing the Union Government of playing politics in the name of Kashmiri Pandits, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party said: “You have been in the Government for the last seven years… How many Kashmiri Pandits have you rehabilitated? Those who are opposing The Kashmir Files are forgetting that the speeches of BJP leaders are more dangerous and effective.”
Manoj Jha of Rashtriya Janata Dal alleged that the Government was using The Kashmir Files to “play politics in North India”.
“I saw no concern in the Government’s eyes about Kashmir [where] the scale of alienation has aggravated and increased. I have also watched The Kashmir Files, but Bharat Mata has experienced many other wounds, like the partition of 1947, the 1984 Sikh massacre, the 2002 Gujarat riots,” Jha said.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also emphasised that Kashmiri Pandits were far from receiving justice. Referring to an earlier written reply to her from Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, she said that only 17 per cent of the homes intended to be built for the Pandits’ return had been constructed.
Fauzia Khan of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) hoped for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
“Some concrete action should take place on this front,” she said.
Khan also raised the issue of unemployment and said at the time of the District Development Council (DDC) polls, 70,000 jobs were promised.
“However, as on February 2, the rate of unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir was 15 per cent, which is much higher than the average of 6.5 to 7 per cent in the rest of the country,” she said.
In the budget, there is a provision of Rs 23,060 crore for the social sector, of which 0.47 per cent is earmarked for labour and employment.
“What is the status of the promised jobs and what are the special interventions?” Khan asked.
While Sudhanshu Trivedi of the BJP said Kashmir was always projected and protected by the Opposition parties as a model of secularism, eventually, it had become a challenge to nationalism.
In 1976, when the word “secularism” was inserted into the Constitution through the 42nd amendment, it was not adopted in Jammu and Kashmir due to Article 370.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh claimed the expenditure figure of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the Jammu and Kashmir budget is based on expected proceeds from the sale of public sector units and questioned the rationale behind the proposal.
Ramesh said that a large number of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed for the Union Territory and sought clarity on the number of projects that have materialised and for which land acquisition has started.
“The expenditure figure which has been projected (is) very impressive, reaching Rs 1,40,000 crore. (It) is obviously based on revenue receipts crossing almost Rs 1 lakh crore. When I look at the paper and try to find out what is the source of the impressive increase in revenue receipts which accounts for the increase in the expenditure, it appears that a bulk of it is based on sale of PSUs,” Ramesh said.
He said that most of the state public sector companies, in almost all states but particularly in J&K, are either sick or dependent on budgetary support.
“My first question to the Finance Minister is: ‘Is this assumption that you are going to generate a lot of revenue by selling PSUs all that viable, given the state of the PSUs in Jammu and Kashmir?'” the Congress MP said.
He said the revenue receipt budget is dependent on additional resource mobilisation and it is not clear what are the specific measures for raising additional resources.
“I can understand that the Centre will give more loans to the state but that is not additional resource mobilisation. You are not going to factor in loans from the Centre as additional resource mobilisation. What are these additional resource mobilisation? Are they additional taxes? Are they user charges? What are the additional resources on which the revenue receipt budget is based,” Ramesh said.
The Congress MP said the GST revenue is projected to double this year as per the budget which is very impressive but it is also unprecedented.
“I want to understand what gives the finance minister and the formulators of the revenue budget that the GST revenue is going to double in a year,” Ramesh said.
He said the JK Industrial Development Corporation was set up to promote industrialisation and is structured in a manner that it has become a land bank.
“It has got enormous power to either acquire land or to lease land or to get land, obviously to provide these lands to private investors. No state in India today has a liberalised land market that exists in J&K. Not Maharashtra, not Tamil Nadu, not the northeast states. The most liberal land market today in India exists in J&K,” Ramesh said.
He said that it has been done obviously in order to promote private investments, catalyse private investments.
“We know that in the last three years many MoUs have been signed. I would like to know from the Finance Minister, how many of these MoUs have actually been translated into the projects. How many of these MoUs have actually started acquiring the land that is now being provided through the aegis of JKIDC,” Ramesh said.
He said that without understanding the assumptions, it will be difficult to understand the realism of the expenditure budget.
“I welcome the expenditure budget but I would like to have greater clarity on the pillars of the revenue budget,” Ramesh said.
Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla of the YSRCP congratulated the Government for presenting an inclusive budget.
“The budget presented by the Finance Minister for the Union Territory focuses on economic development of the region and the people, encouraging industrial and tourism growth and also improving grassroots democracy,” he said.
V Sivadasan of the CPI(M) said unemployment is a serious problem for the youth of J & K. He said there is a need to protect the federal rights of the people of J & K and demanded that it be granted statehood.
TDP member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar demanded that elections be held at the earliest in the Union Territory.
BJP member Surendra Singh Nagar said that it is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that tribals in J&K have now the same right as it is available for tribals across the country.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh said that the discussion on the budget for J&K has been concluded and the Finance Minister will give reply to it on March 23.
Congress member Vivek K Tankha alleged that there is complete administrative paralysis in the Union Territory due to the absence of an elected government.
“People from all parts of the country discuss the budget. But Jammu and Kashmir people will not participate in the discussion. Besides the four members from Jammu & Kashmir are also not there in the House to discuss the budget as there is no (Legislative) Assembly there,” he said.
Tankha told the House that in the last five years and 254 days, there was either Governor’s rule or President’s rule and no legislature to discuss their budget.
“In Legislative Assembly… People put (forth) their aspirations or views which ultimately provides feedback to the Government. A lot of schemes (to meet those aspirations) are made,” he stated.
“Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are part of the country. Crores of people live there. They have aspirations and a vision. If we pass the budget (of the state) without listening to aspirations of the people then you can imagine their pain,” he said and called for restoring the Legislative Assembly in J-K.
He also highlighted that the budget has proposed to ”lower” the allocations for higher education, cultural and power development.
“The meeting of minds to set the priority (for the state) is not possible because the people don’t have their representatives (in the House).”
He suggested that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who moved the budget for consideration and returned to Lok Sabha, should visit Jammu and Kashmir without her officers so that she gets a ”realistic feedback about the aspirations or views” of the native people.
Echoing similar views, Trinamool Congress’ Md Nadimul Haque said that this budget has not reflected the socio-economic conditions of Jammu and Kashmir.
He claimed that there was 22 per cent unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir against the national average of seven per cent.
He also quoted a report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and said that among the educated people the unemployment rate is 46.3 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir and every second educated youth is unemployed there.
He also alleged that big contracts for developmental and other works had gone to outside firms which resulted in a rise in unemployment in local youth.
The TMC member stressed the need to provide greater allocation for tourism infrastructure in view of tourist inflow there.
He said, “Please stop this… Speak to the local people. Accept the reality. Keep the promises made in the House and outside it, and restore democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.”
However, BJP member Anil Jain defended the Government while participating in the debate and said that GST and stamp duty collections are rising in the state, indicating an economic growth uptick.
D P Vats (BJP), Abdul Wahab (IUML), K R N Rajesh Kumar (DMK), Ramnath Thakur (JDU), and Jugalsinh Mathurji Lokhandwala (BJP) also participated in the discussion.
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