SRINAGAR: A Member of Parliament from Srinagar has stated that the people of Jammu and Kashmir voted not merely for the restoration of statehood, but fundamentally for the re-establishment of their constitutional rights, including Article 370.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that Syed Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, asserted on Sunday that a vote for statehood alone would have implied support for the Bharatiya Janata Party. He articulated that the electoral mandate in the region was specifically for the return of constitutional provisions that were abrogated in August 2019.
Mehdi expressed his disappointment, stating, “We promised the people that we would fight for their constitutional rights. Unfortunately, the government has stopped fighting. That is why people are angry, and I am angry too.” He referenced the 2019 decision to revoke Article 370, which had granted special autonomous status to the erstwhile state, noting it was enacted by parliamentarians primarily from northern Indian states.
The MP further claimed that the decision to abrogate Article 370 led to the disenfranchisement of the region, with statehood also being revoked. He suggested that regions in South India harbor fears of similar actions being taken against them.
Syed Aga Ruhullah Mehdi also voiced criticism against the current administration, accusing it of neglecting crucial issues such as business rules and constitutional guarantees for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He argued that by not prioritizing these matters, the government was failing to uphold the mandate entrusted to it by the electorate.
“They are not fighting for business rules. They are not fighting for statehood. They are not fighting for the constitutional guarantees of the people of JK. This is unfair to the mandate and trust of the people,” Mehdi stated, emphasizing the perceived betrayal of public trust.
The Member of Parliament further alleged that the government engaged in political maneuvering, referred to as “gerrymandering,” through the implementation of the women’s reservation bill and the delimitation process. He drew parallels between these actions and the post-2019 developments in Jammu and Kashmir.
“They wanted to redraw boundaries on communal lines to weaken minority representation electorally,” he added, suggesting a deliberate attempt to alter electoral demographics for political advantage.
The Chenab Times News Desk