Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 12: Accusing the Central Government of infringing the rights of Scheduled Castes in the process of Re-organization of J&K State, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, strongly condemned the BJP led NDA for reducing the number of reserved Assembly seats for SC from 7 to 6 in the newly created Union Territory of J&K.
He said that reduction in the number of Assembly seats for Scheduled Castes has been given effect vide Sec 14 (9) (d) of the J&K Re-organization Act. He said that while extending Representation of Peoples Act 1950 to the State of J&K, a new entry has been made in Second Scheduled of the said Act by virtue of which, the effective number of seats in LA of UT of J&K for which polls shall be held has been fixed at 83 out of which 6 seats shall be reserved for SCs. The said schedule as amended under the JK Re-organization Act 2019 does not provide for reservation of even a single seat for ST category despite tall announcements made by the BJP leadership over the issue of providing political reservation to Scheduled Tribes.
He said that such reservation could become available to STs only after amending the 2nd Schedule of Central Representation of Peoples Act 1950 by incorporating a fresh entry with regard to ST reservation which had not been done while passing the J&K Re-organization Act 2019.
Harsh Dev Singh said that the BJP stood fully exposed for its melodramatic rants and theatrics over the issue of rights of STs and SCs as both the classes were cheated by the saffron brigade when it came to their political reservation. He said that SCs were subjected to the worst humiliation as their reservation had been reduced from seven to six seats. The new provision had amply unmasked BJP and revealed its real face behind its deceptive facades, he said.
Pointing towards the seven Assembly seats reserved for SCs in the erstwhile State of J&K, Harsh Dev Singh said that these included Chenani, Ramban, Samba, Hiranagar, R S Pura, Chamb and Raipur Domana. “The Re-organization Act has, as such, deprived the SC community of one Assembly seat rather than giving this marginalized class any benefit. Reduction of one seat was not that material. What was significant in the real sense was the mindset of the BJP which had revealed its bias approach against the depressed classes”, observed Singh.
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