Srinagar, Feb 4: CPI (M) senior leader and former MLA Kulgam, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami on Thursday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's claim in the parliament that constitutional changes made on 5 August 2019 has brought about socio-economic development in both Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, are nothing but a hoax as the ground situation belies these claims.
“When the BJP government arbitrarily and unconstitutionally abrogated the provisions of Article 370, it told the people of the country that militancy, separatism, violence, poverty, absence of development, and corruption in Jammu and Kashmir were all because of Article 370,” Tarigami said in a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
He said, however, more than one and half years later, can the BJP answer to the nation what has changed since 5 August 2019? Is violence any lower? Reality is that more people died in Kashmir in 2020 compared than 2019. More local youths joined militancy in 2020 compared to a year before.
“Similarly, there were more ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and International Border in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370. In the Supreme Court, the Center was forced to admit, when it was asked to justify the ban on 4G internet, that levels of violence have gone up. So that means militancy and violence have gone up,” he said.
He added that people of J&K and the country want to ask the BJP where has investment, jobs and development has gone which the BJP had promised abrogation of Article 370 will bring? Is corruption any less and is governance any better? Has there been a reverse exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, whom the BJP had claimed had been held back because of Article 370? The truth is, not a single claim stands the test of scrutiny, he added.
“Businesses have been shattered in the last and half years in Kashmir and Jammu. The BJP government's August 5 action broke the backbone of J&K's economy. Not only people of the Valley, but residents of Jammu and Ladakh regions too are suffering because of the wrong and muscular policies of the BJP government. Tourism, which forms 8-10% of J&K's GDP, is in shambles after the 5 August 2019 lockdown,” Tarigami said.
He said the impact of the lockdown, in particular internet shutdown, led to huge economic losses and unemployment and cost the Kashmiri economy thousands of crores. “Thousands of people have lost livelihood and many more on the verge of losing it due to the wrong policies of the BJP government. The BJP government did nothing to encourage economic prosperity other than to change domicile laws, which had previously prevented non-locals from buying land, property and investing in the region,” he said.
Former MLA Kulgam further stated the economic, social and political impact of the post August 5 actions of the BJP government have been disastrous. “The only thing the revocation of Article 370 has achieved so far is an unconscionable suppression of civil and democratic rights. The betrayal is what has been done to Jammu and Kashmir after the promises made as far back as 1947-48 were not kept. The Centre's move was violative of the Constitution as orders were passed in disregard of consent of people of J&K. By pulverizing the democratic space, the BJP is brazenly taking pride in destroying every institution of democracy. The RSS-BJP combine has decimated decades of investment in peace and democracy in J&K at the cost of mere political gains,” he added.
