Kolkata, After the repeal of Article 370, national unity is now complete, with the length and breadth of the country coming under the Indian Constitution and its rule of law, BJP working president J.P. Nadda said here on Friday.
“National unity is now complete. The length and breadth of the country is now under the Indian Constitution, under the rule of law,” Nadda said while addressing a public awareness programme on repeal of Article 370.
Nadda said Ladakh, which has now been made into a separate Union Territory without a legislature, was ignored for years as part of J&K.
“The money sent from Delhi was mostly utilised in Srinagar, while Jammu also grabbed some. Now the hill area of Ladakh would get funds directly from the Centre,” he said.
Nadda said the Muslim tribals of Ladakh – Bakarwals and the Gujjars – could never avail of reservations meant for Scheduled Tribes as there was no such provision in the statute.
“They were Muslims, but they were also tribals. So far they could not avail of reservation. And there were no reserved seat for tribals in the assembly.
“Now that Article 370 is no more there, there will be delimitation. And then there will be at least nine assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat reserved for tribals,” he said.
He said the Valmikis possessed permanent residence certificates which was so long a must for enjoying citizenship rights in Jammu and Kashmir, but “it limited them to the job of only safari karmachari”.
Again, if a woman married somebody who did not have the permanent residence certificate, she could not own any property in the northern state, he said.
“When a woman filed a case that since she had the property rights, her children should also get those rights, the Rehabilitation Bill was passed which denied property rights to both women and their children.
“There was also no law against child abuse and domestic violence,” he said.
He said none of the 104 Acts passed by the Indian Constitution was enforceable in J&K because of the existence of Article 370.
“People of Kashmir are now very happy, because now they are getting their fundamental rights,” he said, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s will power and Home Minister Amit Shah’s strategy for the successful abrogation of Article 370.
“Now son of and daughters of safai karmacharis (washermen) can join the judicial service as also the administrative service,” he said.
Nadda said the seeds of terrorism were inherent in Article 370. “That is the reason there was terrorism in J&K, and nowhere else”.
He claimed the BJP and its precursor Bharatiya Jan Sangh were “the only parties” with consistent and clear stands about J&K.
