UT Status Triggers Jubilation In Leh
The Government of India decision to bifurcate Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir and turn it into a UT has fulfilled the demand of the region, being made since 1950s. It triggered jubilation in entire Leh town, a Buddhist-dominated area. The local politicians in Muslim-majority Kargil though did not display much happiness as they with the abrogation of the Article 370 their clout will reduce. A rebel Congress leader, has begun threatening a “massive agitation”.
However cutting across party lines, the prominent politicians from both the BJP and Congress joined Leh residents to welcome the announcement, a long-pending demand of the people of the region.
“Today is a historic day for the people of Ladakh which always faced discrimination and step-mothserly treatment from successive governments in the past in funding shares and employment,” BJP Lok Sabha member from the constituency Jamyang Tsering Namgyal said.
Expressing happiness over the decision, he said Ladakh is not just a piece of land but a sensitive border area having a strategic importance.
Ladakh Buddhist Association president P T Kunzang, former MP Thupstan Chhewang, Congress leader and former MLA Tsering Samphel, MLC Chering Dorjay, Congress district president Tsering Namgyal and BJP president Dorjay Angchuk all joined together in hailing the decision, termed the move as a “historic” one.
The government revoked the Article 370, taking away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and proposed its bifurcation into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Making the announcement in Rajya Sabha on Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Union territory of Ladakh will have no legislature like Chandigarh while the other one of Jammu and Kashmir will have a unicameral legislature like Delhi and Puducherry.
In the neighbouring Kargil district, the politicians, however, expressed some resentment against the move, especially
Congress rebel leader and former MLA Asgar Ali Karbalai.
Karbalai, who unsuccessfully fought the last Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate against official Congress candidate, said the people of Kargil are against the decision and will launch a massive agitation.
“The people of Kargil always voiced their opposition to the demand of UT status for Leh. The government’s decision to create a separate UT for Ladakh without legislature is unconstitutional,” he said, adding the Indian constitution and the Jammu and Kashmir constitution gave people a right to elect their representatives.
Turning Ladakh into a Union territory without a legislature means the people of the region have been deprived of their Constitutional right to elect their representative.
“Leh was demanding for Ladakh free from Kashmir region over a long time but we are against the revocation of Article 370. Kargil residents are safeguarding the borders of the country and the decision which was taken by the government is against our desire and aspirations,” said Hussain.
Now both tourism and infrastructural investment can take place in a big way in Ladhak region.
