Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Sunday termed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement calling for constitutional amendments to assimilate the Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India as his “mental bankruptcy and narrow-mindedness.”
In a statement issued here, a spokesman of the amalgam condemned the RSS chief’s statement and asked him to “go through history and understand reality that Kashmir is a dispute which awaits a final settlement.”
“Based on numerous resolutions in United Nations, Kashmir dispute needed to be resolved either by providing option of right to self determination to the people of Kashmir or through tripartite talks,” the spokesman said and emphasised that “no power on world can change the disputed nature of Kashmir nor it can make people and its true leadership give up their principle stand.”
In his address on Vijayadashmi, which is also the Hindutva organisation’s foundation day, in Nagpur, Bhagwat on Saturday said constitutional amendments were needed to fully integrate the state with the rest of India.
Bhagwat said Hindus who migrated to J&K from West Pakistan in 1947 were in a “miserable state for their decision to be in Bharat and remain as Hindus.”
He blamed constitutional provisions like Article 35(A) that empowers the state’s legislature to define Jammu and Kashmir residents and accord citizenship rights to them, for the “backward life” of these Hindu migrants.
“This is happening just because the discriminatory provisions in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that denied them the fundamental rights,” he said.
“Necessary Constitutional amendments will have to be made and old provisions will have to be changed. Then and then only, the residents of Jammu and Kashmir can be completely assimilated with rest of Bharat and their equal cooperation and share will be possible in the national progress.”
Bhagwat also spoke about Kashmiri Pandits, who migrated from the valley in early 1990s, saying their condition “remains as it is.”
He said that in J&K, the problem of refugees had not been resolved. Despite being the citizens of India, they still don’t have the basic facilities of education, employment and democratic rights, the RSS chief said.
“The problems of permanent residents of the state, who migrated from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1947, and the people, who were displaced from Kashmir Valley in the 1990s, remain as they are,” he said.
Conditions should be created so that they can lead a happy, dignified and secure life like other Indians, by ensuring them equal democratic rights, even while allowing them to remain firm and devoted to their religion and national identity, he said.
Though Bhagwat did not mention, but the RSS and the BJP have long demanded abrogation of the Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
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