Ladakh: The special privileges on jobs and land rights were done away when Article 370 was revoked.
All political parties, including the BJP, have decided to the boycott the upcoming Ladakh Area Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections till the region is granted a constitutional guarantee to protect the land and job rights of its people.
The hill council elections are scheduled to be held on October 16, the first such exercise in the region after Ladakh was carved out from Jammu and Kashmir and granted the union territory status on August 5 last year when the centre scrapped the special status and split it into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The special privileges on jobs and land rights were done away when Article 370 was revoked.
The decision to boycott the polls, which has far-reaching consequences and a ripple-effect in Jammu and Kashmir, was taken three weeks after the LAHDC, run by the BJP, passed a resolution demanding constitutional guarantee for the protection land, culture and jobs in Ladakh.
The parties have rejected a domicile law for Ladakh, like the one in Jammu and Kashmir. The law was introduced in Jammu and Kashmir after replacing the Permanent Residents Certificate (PRC). The Permanent Residency Status was linked to the Constitution's Article 35A and gave special privileges to locals and barred outsiders from jobs and ownership of land in Jammu and Kashmir.
The parties including the BJP, Congress and other groups, formed a joint platform called People's Movement to demand safeguards for the Ladakh region in the form of the Sixth Schedule and more powers to the twin hill councils, the other being LAHDC Kargil.
The joint platform is demanding the inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, to protect the interests of its people, on the lines of Bodo Territorial Council.
The Sixth Schedule provides for the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram after setting up autonomous district and regional councils.
"The apex body of People's Movement for Sixth Schedule for Ladkah has unanimously resolved to boycott the ensuing sixth LADHC Leh election till such time the Constitutional safeguard under sixth schedule on the lines of Bodo Territorial Council is not extended to Ladakh and its people," an all-party resolution said.
Leh was the only place in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir where people welcomed the scrapping of the special status and carving out Ladakh as a union territory. But, as the new union territory administration took change, the hill council and the political leaders found themselves powerless and had a feeling of loss of ownership and special privileges, giving birth to new politics.
"The leaders cutting across party politics and ideologies have decided to fight for the constitutional safeguards for Ladkah and its people," said a leader.