Jammu, June 10 (Scoop News) – BJP legislators party, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta while pleading for holding of early elections and empowerment of the basic democracies, has regretted that this time during his visit to Kashmir, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh looked forgetting his earlier promise for extension of 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Indian Constitution to this state and strengthen the Panchayati Raj concept as also to have genuinely elected civic bodies for Urban areas by granting powers like other parts of the country.
In a statement Prof. Gupta said that in Jammu and Kashmir by taking undue advantage of the so-called special status granted under obnoxious Article 370, the people are being denied their democratic rights and the basic democracies including the panchayats, local bodies as also the cooperative bodies, have been turned into a mockery by the Congress and its fellow travellers in the National Conference. Unlike other parts of the country, the elections to these bodies are not being held. And moreso, these bodies have not been empowered, he added and pointed out that while in the rest of the country after the independence there have been civic elections over a dozen times and since 1992, after 73rd and 74th Amendments, these bodies have been considerably empowered but in Jammu and Kashmir these elections were never held in time, so much so during all these years the Panchayat and Local Bodies elections could be held only four times and that too, in a hush hush manner.
The BJP leader recalled that during his visit to the state on April 13, 2007, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had publically promised for extension of 73rd and 74th Amendment to this state also. It is quite pitiable that the Prime Minister has not only failed to keep up his words but this time he did not talk even about the empowering of the basic democracies because the NC coalition partner is opposed to extension of any Indian laws in Jammu and Kashmir although they always looked quite eager to get more and more Indian money on the plea of being a part of the country.
Prof. Gupta reminded that in January last year the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, after assuming the reins of power had loudly promised to hold the elections to Panchayats and the local bodies “soon after the Lok Sabha polls” which were completed over a year ago but these elections were not held and they appear reluctant even to talk about empowerment of these democracies.
He said there are amazing reports that the elections to Panchayats and local bodies are not being held as the two coalition partners-the Congress and NC -have not been able to reach any understanding that whether these elections should be fought jointly or separately. Hence, the democratic process has been put under the carpet.