Srinagar
Terming the application of Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to Jammu and Kashmir as unconstitutional and a big blow to Article 370, CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Yousuf Tarigami Thursday urged democratic forces to unite and resist such moves which are aimed to weaken the special status of the state.
In a statement, he said if the intentions of the BJP-led Centre government would have been clear, they would have followed constitutional procedures. “The constitutional procedures to extend the Bill to the J&K have not been followed and as such it is unconstitutional. Any Bill passed by the Parliament can’t be extended to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill passed by the Parliament is not applicable to J&K unless State Legislature looks into its various provisions and takes decisions accordingly. Then after the concurrence of the State Legislature, Presidential Order is issued, which has not been done in this case,” he said.
“Article 370 of the Constitution of India states that Parliament and the Union Government jurisdiction extends over limited matters with respect to State of Jammu & Kashmir, and in all other matters not specifically vested in Central government, actions have to be supported by state legislature. However, the rightwing forces in the country are demolishing the Special Status of Jammu and Kashmir brick-by-brick and it is high time for secular and democratic forces in the state and the country to get united to fight against this onslaught. The Bill is an attempt to dilute Article 370. The BJP-led Government in Delhi didn’t even bother to seek suggestions from the national opposition parties, J&K’s political parties and even from the State Government before bringing up the Bill. Even in Rajya Sabha whole Opposition suggested the government not to pass the Bill without taking concurrence of the State government. Despite stiff resistance by Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP-led Government preferred to pass the Bill and now it is fully responsible for its consequences,” he said.
