New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that corruption had ended and things had become more transparent in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after the region’s special status under Article 370 was diluted on August 5 last year.
Responding to the debate on Budgetary proposals and the demand for grants for the Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, she listed the positive developments, including a rise in exports, and informed that soon the Centre would hold a special conclave on start-ups, with experts from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram sharing their expertise with Kashmiri youth.
In a discussion that went on for close to seven hours, most Opposition members attacked the Modi government for the political detentions in J&K and demanded the immediate release of former chief ministers Omar Abdullah (National Conference) and Mehbooba Mufti (Peoples Democratic Party).
Opposition members also asserted that the Budget for J&K should be discussed in its State Assembly and not in the Parliament of India.
Ms. Sitharaman pointed to several past instances between 1991 to 1996, when the Parliament passed the J&K Budget with the then State being under Central rule.
Participating in the discussion, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh claimed that J&K had not seen a more peaceful eight-month period in the militancy-hit region than since August 6, when its special status under Article 370 was abrogated.
“New dreams, new hopes and new aspirations have taken birth there under the leadership of Modi,” he said, while stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be going to the newly created UT of Ladakh to celebrate International Yoga Day on June 21.
Dr. Singh hit back at the Opposition by saying that while they [the Opposition] were concerned “about two-three families”, they were not worried about the over 40,000 people who have lost their lives in the last 30 years of militancy in J&K.
When Dr. Singh said that a section of people believed J&K had been peaceful because “potential troublemakers” had been kept inside, Opposition members protested at his comment.
The Minister asserted that construction under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna has “massively gone up”, fund utilisation had increased by as much as 48%, over 50,000 new jobs would be created, and several medical colleges have come up, including two All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS).
Initiating the discussion, Congress leader Manish Tewari said that the economy had collapsed as trade and tourism were adversely affected because of restrictions imposed in J&K over the past eight months. “The government should open its ears and listen to the voices of people as a dangerous situation is developing there,” he said.
When Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad intervened to say Internet restrictions were in place to ensure terrorists did not spread fear and threaten people, Mr. Tewari said that terrorism was not a new phenomenon and “this could not be an excuse to close Internet services”.
The Congress leader said that not only were schoolchildren impacted, with 11,308 schools remaining shut for months, the administration of justice too had taken a hit as 459 habeas corpus petitions were pending since August 2019. “So what kind of country do we want to make?” he asked, alleging courts were not listing these petitions.
Trinamool Congress’ Saugata Roy too attacked the government and said that a democracy could not function by locking up political leaders.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s A. Raja asked why the government could not send an all-party delegation to J&K for an on-ground assessment.
National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi said the picture that was being presented was quite different from the ground reality and asked the government to examine J&K afresh.
