Omkar Dattatray
Unfortunately there is great hue and cry post delimitation commission draft recommendations as the valley based leaders’ alliance for Gupkar declaration has out rightly rejected proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission. The Gupkar alliance is blowing hot and cold over the proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission. Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami the spokesman of the PAGD has termed the draft report of the recommendations as highly divisive which pitted one region and religion against other as such the draft recommendations are not acceptable to the people of Kashmir irrespective of the party affiliation. Thus has the Gupkar gang out rightly rejected the draft recommendations of the delimitations terming them against the Kashmiris while the fact is that the delimitation commission is an independent institution and its recommendations are unbiased and are in no way against the Kashmiris. But the valley based political leaders and the champions of the Gupkar alliance are terming the proposed recommendations as against the Kashmiris and as such these leaders are habitual of criticizing everything good and bad for their vested interests and same is the case with the criticizing the proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission. Since the Kashmir based political leaders who also happen to be the leaders of the Gupkar alliance are critical of the recommendations of the delimitation commission. It is very sad that the valley based political leaders are treating the interests of Jammu narrowly and are treating Jammu as its colony and thus furthering its hegemony over Jammu province. The delimitation commission has recommended six assembly seats for Jammu region and one seat for the Kashmir region as the balance of the assembly seats has always tilted towards Kashmir and against Jammu as Kashmir has forty seven assembly seats and Jammu has only thirty seven seats and this is a glaring political discrimination against the Jammu province and this political wrong should be rectified and this discrimination should attract the attention of the delimitation commission. But it seems that the delimitation commission has worked against the interests of the Jammu region as with the addition of the six more assembly seats the total seats for Jammu work out forty three only which is less than the seats of Kashmir region. Thus the panthers party and the Shiv Sena and other political parties of Jammu have taken the proposed report of the delimitation commission as biased against Jammu and against the interests of the Jammuites and it is a matter of grave concern and it should be addressed by the delimitation commission. But one wonders that the Gupkar alliance has opposed the recommendations of the delimitation commission and the alliance is preparing for holding of the peaceful protest against the recommendations of the delimitation commission. The spokesman of the Gupkar gang has announced in the press conference the programme of holding of the protest on first January in Srinagar against the draft recommendations of the delimitation commission. It is a very disturbing development that the Gupkar gang is going to hold the protest demonstration against the proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission. As already pointed out that the Gupkar alliance has rejected the recommendations of the delimitation commission as according to the spokesman of the Gupkar gang the recommendations of the delimitation commission are against the interests of the Kashmiris and as such are unacceptable to the PGDA and it opposes tooth and nail the proposed recommendations of the delimitation commission and is stoutly against the recommendations and as such has finalized the devious plan of holding the protest against the recommendations of the delimitation commission. Thus is the Gupkar alliance and its leaders against the proposed recommendations as they term the recommendations as highly divisive and biased. The Gupkar alliance is always on the lookout for a subject to arouse the emotions of the Kashmiri sans as such it has opposed the proposed recommendations and termed it as against the Kashmiri people and also against the interests of the country. The spokesman of the PGDA has said that the proposed draft recommendations will further alienate the Kashmiris from the national mainstream and it will deepen and widen the gap between the two regions of Jammu and Kashmir and thus are the draft recommendations unacceptable to the Gupkar alliance and so will it strive against the proposed recommendations. The PAGD will not be a signatory to the draft recommendations of the delimitation commission. The spokesman of the Gupkar gang further said that it always is and will remain opposed to the recommendations and it will fight for the interests of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. According to the PAGD the proposed draft recommendations will create the divide between the regions and religions and it will create the divide between the different regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Since the recommendations are based on the census of 2011 so these are tilted in favour of Kashmir as the population of Kashmir is more than the population of Jammu region and thus the report of the recommendations are in favour of Kashmir. So one is at a loss to understand as to why is the Gupkar gang against the proposed recommendations and why is it planning to hold the protest demonstrations at Srinagar. The Gupkar alliance will also take the matter against the proposed recommendations with the different political parties of the country and will also try to raise the matter in the ongoing winter session of the parliament. The matter of satisfaction is this that the spokesman of the Gupkar gang has said that it will peacefully protest against the recommendations of the delimitation commission. In a democracy everyone is free to oppose and criticize and so the PGDA is within its right to protest against the proposed draft recommendations but the opposition to the recommendations should not be only for the sake of opposition but the opposition to the recommendations should have some merit. Since the balance of the assembly seats is already tilted in favour of Kashmir and now the delimitation commission should rectify the already wrong and make the balance to weigh equal. The present population of Jammu province is more than the population of Kashmir province and the geographical area of Jammu region is also more than that of Kashmir and so it is in the fitness of things that the assembly seats of the Jammu region should be more than Kashmir region and this will remove the political discrimination with the Jammu region. Thus the recommendations of the delimitation commission should be based on the census of 2021 to be more representative and just as it will do away with the political discrimination with the Jammu province. But it will hardly be based on the census of 2021 as the delimitation commission has decided to base the recommendation on the bases of 2011 census and thus it will be biased against Jammu and will be in the interest of Kashmir and thus the hegemony of Kashmir will continue in future as well and so it will be against the interests of the Jammu. The need of the hour is that the recommendations of the delimitation commission should not favour any one region at the cost of the other region but the recommendations should be fair and just so that the political discrimination and the monopoly and hegemony of one region on the other is removed. Only hue and cry of the Gupkar alliance will do no good to the different regions of the union territory ,rather the political parties including the champions of the PAGD should cooperate with the delimitation commission so that it will finalize its recommendations and the exercise of the delimitation is carried to its logical conclusion in order to pave way for holding of the much over due elections of the UT. The political parties of Jammu are demanding minimum fifty assembly seats in accordance with the present population of Jammu and towards this demand of the Jammu province the delimitation commission should pay its attention. Anyway the Gupkar gang should not oppose the proposed draft recommendations of the delimitation only for the sake of opposition but provide its helping hand to the commission and actively participate in the consultations of the delimitation commission so that the recommendations of the delimitation commission will be finalized soon in order to hold the assembly elections which are overdue.
(The author is retired education officer and columnist)
