The recommendations ignored the "overwhelming criteria" of population, Omar Abdullah said (File)
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today accused the Delimitation Commission of fulfilling the BJP's agenda of "disempowering" people of Kashmir, and said the National Conference (NC) will fight the move through democratic means. Mr Abdullah slammed the panel over its recent draft recommendations to increase the number of Assembly seats in the Jammu division by six and in the Kashmir division by just one. The recommendations ignored the "overwhelming criteria" of population, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah said.
"By increasing the seats in this proportion, you are actually disenfranchising people in Kashmir because the ratio of seat-to-population changes drastically," Mr Abdullah told news agency PTI in his first detailed reaction to the commission's draft recommendations.
The draft recommendations were presented in a meeting of the commission in New Delhi two days ago. It was attended by three MPs of the NC and two of the BJP. The commission has sought comments of the MPs who are also its associate members by December 31.
The NC, PDP, and other political parties who are largely based in the Kashmir region have vociferously opposed the draft proposals which will increase the number of Assembly seats in the Jammu division from 37 to 43 and in Kashmir from 46 to 47.
Omar Abdullah made it clear that the National Conference will not endorse the recommendations and if the Commission doesn't amend the proposals, "we will make sure our dissent is part of the record".
Omar Abdullah ruled out the possibility of moving the Supreme Court over the issue, saying, "Rightly or wrongly, you cannot challenge recommendations of a Delimitation Commission in a court."
"...I don't think we should hoodwink the people by claiming that we will fight against it legally. There is no legal recourse and therefore, we have to try and build pressure we can through means other than legal means to get the commission to see the sense," he said.
"We have to try and build pressure through other democratic means."
The concerted plan of the Centre since 2018 has been to disempower people in Kashmir and the proposals of the Delimitation Commission "is just another step in that direction", he alleged.
"We have time and again questioned the rationale for this delimitation...their justification for August 5, 2019, was that you can't have one country with two systems and that Jammu and Kashmir had to be brought at par with the rest of the country. Then why were we singled out for delimitation?" he questioned.
Mr Abdullah also pointed out that many BJP leaders in Jammu were not happy with the 2011 census and said the government could have waited for a couple of years and then hold a delimitation based on the 2021 census.
"Then we would have seen what the ratio is. So, they can't have it all their way. They want delimitation, but then they want to ignore 2011 census data. They can't do that and that's why we have said that the commission has not taken an objective view of this distribution of seats," he said.
He countered the argument put forth by a section of media that the seats were being distributed because of geographical areas and said if that is the consideration, then why do Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra not have more seats than Uttar Pradesh. All these three states have larger territory than Uttar Pradesh which is the most populous state.
"...and in this (J&K) case that is being ignored for political purposes and that is why we are opposed to it," he said and added that it was not justified because at the end of the day the main basis for delimitation is the census.
Omar Abdullah refused to spell out the future course of action saying that it is "something we will discuss internally within the party and also with those leaders that represent the party in the PAGD. They will also sit down and chalk out future strategies. I don't want to get into details right now".
He was also clear that the party will not approach other political parties outside the erstwhile state and said, "Our own experience has been that parties very seldom are happy to find common interests with the people of Jammu and Kashmir."
"Most political parties found no common interest with us after August 5, 2019, and therefore, I don't think it will serve any purpose. There are parties like the CPM, CPI that are part of the PAGD. So, yes definitely we would like to take them along with us but otherwise, unfortunately, this is our battle and we have to fight it," he said.
"The Delimitation Commission recommendations are one of the rare occasions when a proposed decision is being badly received on both sides of the Peer Panjal (Kashmir and Jammu). I think the BJP had oversold what they were going to do with this Delimitation Commission and, therefore, while people in Kashmir are unhappy with these recommendations because it's seen as aimed only at disempowering people here, there are large sections of the population in Jammu that are unhappy with these recommendations too."
On the criticism from some political parties over the NC's participation in the commission meetings, he said, "We have made our position very clear as to where we stand on these recommendations." All political parties barring one met the commission when it came to Srinagar and Jammu.
"Now those who criticise our participation would also have criticised us for staying away when this report would have been presented... So, these critics would criticise us regardless," he said.
Asked where these recommendations stand with regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion during a meeting in June on reducing the distance between Delhi and Srinagar, Omar Abdullah said, "That is a question for PMO to answer."
"Very little has been done to reduce the distance since that meeting. So let us not single out just these recommendations of the Delimitation Commission. There has been very little follow-up after that meeting to give shape to the words that were used there."