Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday described the draft report of the Jammu and Kashmir delimitation commission as an “attempt to disempower the majority community here”.
“We always had apprehensions that the delimitation panel was set up to further the agenda of the BJP. It is now evident from the fact that no constitutional reforms have been followed by the commission,” Ms. Mufti said.
She said the panel had made an attempt “to strengthen the constituencies of the BJP and disempower the majority community of Rajouri, the Kashmir Valley and the Chenab Valley”. “It is another onslaught on democracy in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
The three-member commission submitted its fresh interim report to the associate members a few days ago and has proposed wide scale redrawing of boundaries of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats.
On the commission’s proposal to carve out a joint parliamentary constituency by clubbing areas of Rajouri in the Jammu province with districts of south Kashmir in the Valley, Ms. Mufti said, “The merger has made voters irrelevant. How will a parliamentarian reach Rajouri or Chenab Valley when the road remains closed for six months?” she said. Ms. Mufti accused the BJP of “turning this nation into Godse’s nation”.
“Jammu and Kashmir is a laboratory for the BJP. Everything is being tested here just as in the garb of delimitation commission. The BJP has ruined everything in J&K,” she added.
