MyVoice: Views of our readers 14th December 2023

Make J-K people feel one with nation

Backing the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, the apex court said the President’s decision in 2019 was the culmination of a “gradual and collaborative exercise” spread over the past 70 years between the Centre and the State to integrate Jammu and Kashmir with the Union. Now that Kashmir’s special status is gone, J&K and Ladakh are mainstreamed with the rest of India. Article 370 was always discriminatory in more ways than one.

C K Jayanthi Maniam, Mumbai

***

The people of Jammu and Kashmir feel that they need the special status to preserve their distinct identity and culture. A B Vajpayee spoke in favour of nurturing the Kashmir Valley and preserving Kashmiriyat. Instead of striping the region of its special status, steps ought to have been taken to address people’s genuine grievances and fulfil their legitimate political aspirations. There is a lot of difference between autonomy and separation. People of Jammu and Kashmir must be made to feel a sense of belonging to the nation.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

***

The Declaration of the Supreme Court to uphold the abrogation of Article 370 is a historic verdict, which upholds the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The SC has called for restoration of Statehood of J&K and polls to be held by September 2024. This is a victory not only for the NDA government but also for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The judgement will now assure that there is an elected government where people will choose their representatives. The entire region of J&K will now see more development and will bond with the rest of India. With the SC upholding the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, our PM’s vision of Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat has been upheld.

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

For speedy justice by fast-track courts

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has specified that courts need to shift to paperless hearings. He also mentioned that whoever wants to appear with papers and files shall make a contribution to the advocates welfare fund. But the fast-track courts are still stuck with a huge pile of files and papers. There is a need to organise people’s court sessions. As per each type of crime a common judgement shall be passed. The legal heads know how to analyze the complexities to simplify the solutions. That is the only way the people can be made happy by doing away with thousands of pending cases filed in the courts.

G Murali Mohan Rao, Secunderabad

Cash haul: EC must swing into action

Apropos, “Who needs Money Heist fiction when you have Cong: PM,” (THI, Dec 13). The eye-popping images of cash worth about Rs 350 crore in a distillery run by Jharkhand Congress MP Dheeraj Sahu in Odisha once again brought the obscenity of the black money to the foreground. Were the currency notes just his stash or did they include the dirty money of others, only Sahu can tell. However, as the raids are coming ahead of the Parliament elections, the issue of corruption and purging of black money can turn out to be the poll plank. The black money is a menace that survived all extermination efforts including that of 2016 demonetisation. Also, Sahu had declared only a minuscule portion of the combined wealth of his family in his election affidavit. The Election Commission of India ought to go after him to enforce accountability if it really wants to clean up the system.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru