NEW DELHI: The withdrawal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir has brought “transparent democracy and development without corruption,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman contended in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. She also claimed the abrogation of Article 370 ensured development had reached women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe segments following enforcement of several central Acts there.
“I saw a lot of emotion by many members who asked ‘what is the difference before and after August 5?’ (when special status to J&K was withdrawn). Many changes: no corruption, transparent democracy and transparent budgetary spending. People of J&K and Ladakh now approach concerned authorities including the lieutenant governors and even the home minister directly,” Sitharaman said while replying to the debate on the supplementary demands for grants for the two Union territories.
Slamming the Opposition she said “I would like to ask why was there no human rights commission in J&K when you were in government? Why was there no talk of the rights of women, Dalits and tribals in J&K? Why did the Congress government not implement the Panchayat Act in J&K? Why you did you not think of women who lost property if they married from outside J&K? What happened to human rights when Kashmiri Pandits were killed and forced out of J&K?”
When Congress MP Manish Tewari said the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits happened when the VP Singh government, backed by BJP and CPM was in power, Sitharamn countered it by saying that the BJP withdrew support to VP Singh regime months after that (over arrest of LK Advani). Since then, you (Congress) propped up the Chandra Shekhar regime. From 1991 to 1996 Congress ruled the Centre. Why didn’t the Congress government and the subsequent Congress governments take steps to rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits? ..
Earlier, Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked “if there is so much peace in J&K why were so many people placed under detention? What J&K needs is not physical integration but emotional integration with the people with India”.
