Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Aug 07:
State President of Shri Ram Sena (SRS), Rajiv Mahajan on Tuesday urged Supreme Court to revoke Article 35-A from J&K in the best interest of the nation as well as the State. In a press conference here, Rajiv Mahajan said that Article 35-A is unconstitutional and illegal.
“Article 35-A was applied to J&K in a hush-hush manner on May 14, 1954 through a presidential order and has not been passed by the Parliament, which is a necessary formality,” he said.
He added today Kashmir based political parties and Hurriyat Conference is protesting in favour of Article 35-A as they don’t want that Jammu and Kashmir should get the same treatment as other states are getting. Rajiv said that India is one from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and all states must get the same treatment.
He said the women want to buy a house in J&K, but they cannot do so in spite of being a citizen of the State because Article 35-A is discriminatory against the women of J&K.
“As far as the women-folk in Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, their choice of marriage is restricted because of Article 35-A,” he said adding that if a daughter of state marries a non-permanent resident of the State, her children and husband can’t exercise any right in the State. “Their status becomes similar to the status of refugees from Pakistan,” he said. Article 35-A, he said, disallows Indian citizens from other states to employment under the State Government; acquisition of immovable property in the State, settlement in the State or right to scholarships and such other forms of aid as the State Government may provide.
It, he added, facilitates the free and unrestrained violation of Fundamental Rights of common men who have lived there for generations.
He said some of political leaders of Kashmir based parties also raised voices against the Article 35-A in Jammu province only to polarise and divide the people for their vote banks.
The hue and cry by Kashmir based leaders seems that only the Kashmir Valley has a problem with repealing Article 35-A. He strongly emphasized to abolish Article 35-A to establish gender equality in the State.
