By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) has condemned the scrapping of Article 370 on Monday.
In a statement, the organisation said the Presidential order revoking Article 370 in order to forcefully extend the whole or all provisions of the Indian Constitution to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, removing Article 35 A (right to decide permanent residents and their right to ownership of immovable assets, special rights in government jobs, scholarships etc), and breaking up of the state, relegating it to the status of a union territory marks a dark trajectory of Hindutva authoritarianism.
“This is a continuation of the dismantling of the Constitution and trampling of the democratic framework of India as we know it. This constitutional coup engineered by Shah and Modi and executed in the dark by incarcerating the Kashimiris including their elected representatives and misleading the rest of the country has ramifications not just for Jammu & Kashmir but for the Union of India as a whole and the Northeastern states in particular,” the TUR stated.(The Indian union came into being through various agreements with different communities through special provisions and arrangements, including the 5th and 6th Schedules, which enable state legislations such as the Land Transfer Act preventing land alienation to the non locals, local traditional self governance systems etc that protect the indigenous people from potential disruptive occupation by a brute majority. Abrogation of Article 370 points to the reality that a similar threat to the 5th and 6th Schedules exists, the sampler of which was the pushing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill despite regional opposition to it, the organisation said.
“We call upon all democratic minded citizens to oppose this attack on our democratic republic. We stand in solidarity with the oppressed people of Kashmir whose long pending desire for freedom and autonomy has yet again been brutally betrayed,” the TUR said.