M A I N   N E W S

RSS for trifurcation of J&K
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, June 30
The RSS has demanded the division of the militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir into three separate entities, with statehood to the Jammu region and the Kashmir valley and the union territory status for the Ladakh region. The demand was made in a resolution adopted at the two-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (National Executive) of the RSS which concluded here this evening.

The resolution partly endorsed the demand made by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (HVP), a front organisation of the RSS, which had pleaded for dividing J&K into four separate states. Besides, the creation of separate states for Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh, the VHP wanted the formation of a buffer state between the valley and Jammu to provide a home for Kashmiri Hindus driven out by militants.

The RSS resolution says that the Central and the state governments should hold a dialogue with the “Kashmiri Hindus, hounded out of their homes by jehadi Muslim elements” to find a way for their safe and secure rehabilitation in the Kashmir valley “which has been their home for thousands of years”.

Sources say that the RSS had earlier appointed a three-member committee headed by a former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Jitendra Veer Gupta, to go into the demand for the division of Jammu and Kashmir. The other members of the committee were Dr Bajrang Lal Gupta and Mr Bal Apte.

The sources say that the majority opinion in the committee was against the division of the state, which, it felt, would not be in the national interest. However, the Karyakari Mandal did not accept the majority view of the committee.

Mr M.G. Vaidya, spokesman of the RSS, avoided a direct reply when he was asked if the committee had recommended the division of Jammu and Kashmir. He said the committee report had “corroborated the discrimination” by the state government against the Jammu and Ladakh regions. “The report is very lengthy, this recommendation may be there,” Mr Vaidya added.

The RSS also supported the demand for bringing Jammu and Kashmir under President’s rule before the Assembly elections. It said, “Every precaution and arrangement should be taken to ensure free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir. In view of the past experience, the present National Conference government cannot generate confidence that it will help conduct free and fair elections”.

Though the Karyakari Mandal avoided using the phrase “President’s rule” specifically in the resolution, Mr Vaidya said the imposition of President’s rule on Jammu and Kashmir would send a positive message in the state, where the polling percentage in the last elections was just 5. He said such a step would encourage even those people of the Jammu region who were disinterested in voting because of the rigged nature of the elections held in the past, to come forward to exercise their right of franchise.

The resolution said to brand the demand for statehood to Jammu, which included the Muslim-majority districts of Poonch, Rajouri and Doda, as communal “is either crass ignorance or motivated prejudice.”

Mr Vaidya did not agree with a suggestion that the demand might pave the way for another partition of the country.

The RSS spokesman said though the Karyakari Mandal did not discuss the 26 per cent foreign direct investment in the print media, the organisation was never in favour of any dilution of “our resources and our talent” wherever not necessary and it never favoured the unrestricted flow of foreign investment in any field.

He said the conditions imposed on the direct foreign investment in the print media should also be imposed on similar investment in the electronic media.

Expressing concern over the fast deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the RSS said the situation “has been aggravated by the slogan of autonomy for the state. Behind this development lies the deplorable story of ineptitude, short-sightedness and ‘minorityism’ of the political leadership of our country.

“The day the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession, without any conditions whatsoever, the problem ought to have been solved for good. But our then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, halted the victorious onward march of our armed forces and took the matter to the UNO, and thus paved the way for internationalising a problem which would have been solved by us on our own strength.”

The resolution further said, “Whereas the need was progress towards more integration, it was again halted in 1975 when Sheikh Abdullah was installed Chief Minister under the Indira Gandhi-Abdullah agreement. He pursued his anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat policies which his son, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is assiduously carrying forward, reducing the Kashmir valley practically devoid of Hindu population. The law for resettlement of those who had opted for Pakistani citizenship is yet another dangerous move towards a marked demographic change.”

Through another resolution, the RSS demanded adequate compensation to those persons who had been displaced from the Indo-Pak border and the Line of Control because of the repeated shelling and the current stand-off between the armed forces of the two countries.

Mr Vaidya said the RSS endorsed the essence behind the stand taken by the VHP that since the Ram Janambhoomi was a matter of faith with the Hindus, the courts could not decide the issue. He said a few years ago, a petition was filed in the Kolkata High Court challenging some portions of the Koran. The court had dismissed the petition, saying that since it was a matter of faith, it could not intervene. Similarly, he said, Ram Janambhoomi was a matter of faith with the Hindus.