Abhishek Behl, Merinews.com
Brief: Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, who have been at the receiving end of militancy in the state are elated over the proposal of the UPA government to bring about a law which will decide the status of minorities on the basis of state population.
HINDUS IN JAMMU and Kashmir are elated over the decision of the UPA government to bring about a legislation according to which minority status will be decided on the basis of the population of a state.
This law if enacted will make it possible for the Hindus, particularly Dogra Hindus and Kashmir Pandits inhabiting in Jammu region to get the minority status, Jammu and Kashmir being a muslim majority state.
Earlier, Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, though less in numbers as compared to their Muslim counterpart were not entitled to this status as decision on Minority status of the community was made on the basis of national population.
According to the proposed law, the UPA government is planning an amendment to the Constitution that seeks to redefine the term “minority”: if the Bill is legislated, minority status will be defined on the basis of population at the state rather than national level.
Cleared by the Union Cabinet last week, the Constitutional (103rd Amendment) Bill 2004 is slated to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. It incorporates many of the recommendations of the Parliamentary standing committee, which met, in February last year.
Although Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir have long been demanding minority status, however, since the existing law defined minorities on the basis of national population nothing could be done in this regard.
In fact, lakhs of Kashmiri Hindus known as Kashmiri Pandits were forced to migrate from Kashmir Valley by fundamentalist organizations as even they have been vociferously demanding this status for the last many years.
Senior BJP leader and former J&K state BJP president, Prof Nirmal Singh was of the opinion that not only Hindus but Sikhs, Buddhists and other minorities in the state should be given their due share and rights.
“There should be a discussion on what constitutes a minority and only after that this law should be enacted”, he said.
Talking to Merinews, Sunil Kumar, a Jammu based businessman, said that though there was a sizeable population of Hindus in the city but overall the community was dwarfed in terms of numbers compared to the majority of Muslims.
“I think the decision of the central government is revolutionary and it help the Hindus as well as other communities in states, where they are in minority”, he said.
Here it must be stated that Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab where the “national majority” that is, Hindus, are in fact a minority. Schemes designed nationally for “minorities” as now understood, that is Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsees, may not be applicable in these states. For example, schemes meant for Muslims nationally do not apply to Muslims living in J&K.
In order to end these anomalies, and in keeping with the Supreme Court judgment of August 2005, the Bill will use states as the basic unit to judge which community is a minority in which state. In the crucial verdict by the Supreme Court, a seven-judge Bench had said that the most appropriate level to decide on minorities is the state level.
If the Bill is passed, states will be asked for their view on the basis of data available as to who is a minority. They will be consulted by the President of India, who would then notify the minorities in that state.
While the President is to consult the states, he would not be bound to act on their advice. Moreover, once the notification of all the states and Union Territories takes place, it will not be possible for subsequent governments to alter the notification by a simple Cabinet order.
Changing the status of any community, from minority to majority or vice-versa will need to go through Parliament. However, the new amendment Bill does not specify what the criterion, or percentage level, for deciding a minority community should be. That has been left to the government to work out at a later date.