Pressure on BJP to scuttle panchayat Bill

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 28

The state unit of the BJP is under pressure not to allow passage of the Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the Legislative Assembly on June 27.

Interestingly, the Cabinet, in its meeting on June 26, in which BJP ministers were present, cleared this Bill for introduction in the Assembly.

As Opposition parties and elected panchayat members have launched a blistering attack on the BJP for “bulldozing” grassroots democratic institutions, party leaders have asked state general secretary Narendra Singh to rush to Srinagar to convene a meeting of legislators to oppose passage of this Bill.

“Narendra Singh and state general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul convened a meeting of legislators in Srinagar today, in which a strategy was devised to block the Bill in the Lower House,” a source said.

“Central leaders of the party are not impressed with the way the state Cabinet has cleared such Bills for introducing in the Assembly, especially in the presence of party ministers,” the source added.

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Abdul Haq introduced a Bill on Monday to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, already published in an extraordinary issue of the gazette.

Highly placed sources said party leaders had realised that the Bill introduced in the Assembly was against the spirit of the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution because election of sarpanches by elected panches would undermine the sanctity of panchayati raj institutions in the state.

A senior BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity that before becoming a part of the government, the party had been agitating for the implementation of the 73rd Amendment in the state.

But now, its ministers had become party to the Bill, which was against the spirit of the 73rd Amendment. “People will not forgive us if we fail to stop passage of this Bill,” he said.

“We have said this Bill has grave ramifications and we have to oppose it tooth and nail,” said a BJP MLA who attended today’s meeting on the condition of anonymity.

He added that the party would face the wrath of panchayat members if this Bill was passed. The Congress and All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference had already started a campaign against the Bill. State BJP president Sat Sharma said party leaders were discussing pros and cons of the Bill. “We will sit together on Wednesday to devise a strategy during a discussion on the Bill,” he said.