LS Passes J&K Bills Reserving Seats For Kashmiri Pandits, PoK Refugees As Amit Shah Cites Nehru's '2 Mistakes'

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was passed by Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed two bills granting reservation to the Kashmiri Pandit migrants and displaced people from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. While debating on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Union minister Amit Shah said that two mistakes by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made Kashmir suffer for so many years. 

"Two mistakes that happened due to the decision of (former PM) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru due to which Kashmir had to suffer for many years," he said, adding: "The first is to declare a ceasefire - when our army was winning, the ceasefire was imposed. If there had been a ceasefire after three days, PoK would have been a part of India today."

"The second is to take our internal issue to the UN. "

“PM Modi is the only one who actually understood the pain of the people and worked tirelessly to reduce the same,” Shah said

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was passed by the Lok Sabha which would provide reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other socially and educationally backward classes. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was also passed by the House. 

The bill also adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate upto two members from the Kashmiri migrant community to the Assembly with one of the nominated members being a woman. 

The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate to the Legislative Assembly one member representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah said that the bills would give justice to those deprived of their rights for the last 70 years and asserted that reservation to the displaced people will give them a voice in the legislature.

Targeting the Congress dispensation, Shah said had terrorism been tackled at the beginning without considering vote-bank politics, Kashmiri Pandits would not have had to leave Kashmir Valley. He also lashed out at the grand old party for talking about backward classes, saying that if any party has opposed backward classes and come in the way of their growth, it is the Congress.