BJP State Spokesperson, Prof. Virender Gupta strongly reacted to the affidavit filed by the State Government in the Supreme Court ruling out setting up of J&K Minority Commission and that National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 does not bind the state to constitute State Level Commission. He said that Kashmiri leadership that considers itself as a most secular lot in the country cannot afford to ignore the plight of minorities in the state which are criminally victimized and discriminated in the state. He further added that the state that constitutes about 68 percent of Muslim population cannot provide benefits to the majority community which are meant for minorities of the state. He pointed that the policy followed by State government amounts to cheating the nation and looting the money from Govt. of India exchequer meant for the religious and linguistic minorities of the state. He added that Govt. of India needs to notify state level minorities of various states and issue a clear-cut instruction to the state for providing the benefits to the actual state minorities of various schemes sponsored of GoI and also the Prime Minister’s 12 point programme for the welfare of minorities of the states. He said that J&K state plea that these benefits should accrue to the minorities at the national level, hence to the Muslims of the state who are majority in the state, shows its communal bias and communal politics that it is pursuing in the last 70 years.
Prof. Virender said that J&K State government plea that “it will consider the need and feasibility of setting up State Minority Commission when need arises based upon the critical study of the social and educational backwardness of the minorities spread across various regions of Jammu and Kashmir” amounts to side tracking the issue and trying to hoodwink the Apex court and Government of India. The issue concerns that minorities of the state, it does not ask for region wise classification and on the basis of social and educational backwardness.
