Srinagar: Senior CPI(M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami criticized the Home Minister’s remarks made during his virtual address to Kashmir Mahotsav organized by the Indian Institute of Sustainability, Gujrat University.
In a statement issued here, Tarigami said: “There is nothing to boast about Jammu and Kashmir. The Home Minister’s assertions regarding holding panchayat elections are in deep contrast to the facts. The panchayat elections were earlier conducted in 2001, 2011, and 2018.”
“Moreover, similar elections are being held in the rest of the country but people are not being deprived of the right to elect their assemblies,” said Tarigami.
“The Panchayat Raj Institutions could not be a substitute for the assemblies, which are the only representative bodies in States/UTs empowered to legislate on public issues,” the senior CPI(M) leader said.
“The legislature remains the crucial pillar of democracy in a federal structure, but unfortunately, the GOI has virtually demolished this pillar in Jammu and Kashmir. Even after completing the so-called de-limitation process and revision of electorates, the government has no temerity to hold the assembly elections,” he said.
“Additionally, if J&K’s post-abrogation situation is presented by the government as a model of democracy then who stops them to replicate it in ‘Gujarat’ or other BJP-ruled states?” Tarigami asked.
“It is very unfortunate that the Home Minister has ignored the ballooning youth unemployment while beating trumpets about the start-up ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. The growing unemployment has left thousands of educated youth distraught in this region,” he said.
“The unemployment rate in this region has touched a staggering 21.8 percent, which is the highest in the entire country. There is nothing for the Central dispensation or Home Minister that needs to be shouted from the rooftops,” he added.
