Govt Trying to Convert Jammu and Kashmir into India’s Palestine, Says CPM’s Sitaram Yechury

Thiruvananthapuram: Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said that central government is trying to convert Kashmir into India’s Palestine by removing article 370.

Speaking at an event held at AK Gopalan Center for Research and Studies here, Yechury said all secular democratic parties in the country will organise protests on August 22 demanding release of political prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir.

"This (August 22 protest) will only be a beginning because we cannot allow J&K to be converted into India's Palestine. We cannot allow the same sort of treatment that Israelis are doing with people of Palestine in our own country… people’s fundamental rights are being violated."

The former Rajya Sabha member alleged that disinformation and wrong propaganda are being carried out on the pretext on removing special status for J&K.

"Apart from article 370, there are 10 other articles dealing with special status to different states of India. Most of the north eastern states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat have certain special statuses,” Yechury said adding it is not correct to say that J&K is the only state with special status.

Yechury alleged that the special status was taken away from Jammu and Kashmir as it was the only Muslim-majority state in India.

"It is not a question of special status of J&k being taken away as it is the only state in India with similar case. J&K was targeted because it was the only Muslim-majority state in India. Their communal agenda was the principal motivation behind this and that is why they have assaulted the principles of secularism , democracy and federalism contained in our constitution ,” he said.

He said government’s design is to change the demographic composition of J&K by settling more Hindus there. “They want to transform Muslim majority state to Hindu majority state, This is exactly the model that Israel follows today," he said.

Yechury said that it is true that people from outside cannot buy land in J&K, but the same condition applies to states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim too.

He said that the battle today is preserving India from creating a unitary state structure which will facilitate the transformation of our republic into a ‘fascistic Hindutva Rashtra' as the RSS defines it.