Will Jammu and Kashmir Get A Hindu Chief Minister?

The BJP’s moves have increased the chances of Jammu and Kashmir getting a Hindu chief minister

- Tariq Bhat

A SENSE OF loss and indignation has gripped Kashmir. With the Union government scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution, Jammu and Kashmir have been stripped of its special status. Outsiders can now buy land, apply for government jobs and participate in assembly polls.

The state has been bifurcated into two Union territories—Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislative assembly, and Ladakh, which will not have one. All Central laws will apply to the two UTs, and there would be no separate constitution or flag, as had been the case earlier.

The immediate beneficiaries of the development are West Pakistan Refugees or the families that had migrated from Pakistan to Jammu during the partition of India in 1947. There are now 50,000 such WPRs in Jammu. They are not officially recognized as residents but are allowed to vote in the Lok Sabha elections. With Jammu and Kashmir becoming a Union territory, they will be allowed to vote in and contest all elections.

The move will also benefit women who married persons from outside the state. Article 35A, which allowed the state government to define permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, had barred them from inheriting ancestral property, seeking government jobs and participating in elections. The scrapping of Article 370 has voided Article 35A as well, giving succession rights to these women and their children.