Will Minorities In J&K Get Their Due Now?
Jammu, October 02: It is official now that J&K is the only Muslim Majority State of India thereby holding a special place in India as stated by none other than the J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at a function yesterday; but what is important in this statement is that it has given a ray of hope to thousands of people belonging to minority as per the CM’s statement to finally get their due in terms of minority status and reap the benefits that come with the tag.
The Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Kashmiri Pandits, Paharis, Jains, Christians and other castes are now hoping that the Chief Minister himself would initiate the process of declaring them as minority officially so that they too can avail the benefits enjoyed by the minorities in India.
Even though everybody knew that J&K was a Muslim majority state but politicians of all hues till now have been avoiding any debate on the minority status to other castes acting as the classing example of having the cake and eating it too.
While Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and others have been seeking minority status, the official line of the government was that since Hindus are in majority in India they cannot be given the status of minority in J&K but while Muslims are minority in rest of the India they will get the benefit of being the majority in J&K.
This irony has gripped the state since Independence as the political class dominated by Kashmiris have always wanted to have the cake and eat it too while the benefits of minority status has been denied to those who actually deserve it more like Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and other casts who constitute negligible percentage of the total population of the state.
The Chief Minister’s official press note said, “Describing J&K as a symbol of Indian diversity, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today said the state holds a special place as the only Muslim majority state in the federal structure of the country.
It further said in another paragraph that, “Hailing the farsightedness of the leaders during the country’s freedom struggle, the Chief Minister said the future of the state lies with India, as Mahatma Gandhi saw a ray of hope in J&K when the entire country was burning in a communal frenzy in the days leading to independence. “J&K is a bouquet of three distinct cultures where people of all faiths have lived in complete harmony for decades,” he said, while hailing the state’s unique multiculturalism.
Chief Minister is right when he says that J&K has shown tremendous communal harmony and Gandhi Ji had seen a ray of hope here and it is now imperative that the similar ray of hope that people of the state have seen in Mufti is realized and the Chief Minister behaving as a true statesman, that he is, initiates the process of declaring all other castes in the state as minorities particularly the minuscule minorities like Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Buddhists, Paharis etc so that the state under the dynamic leadership of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed clearly shows that he has a great vision for the state and its people.
Now it is hoped that the current government will pave way for declaring other casts as minorities after having declared that the state is a Muslim majority state so that the minorities here reap the benefits of the minority status and contribute to the progress of the state.