"Needs peace, security more than elections": Ladakh MP Jamyang Namgyal in Lok Sabha amid debate on two Bills on Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir and set a time frame for holding Assembly elections there, BJP MP from Ladakh, Jamyang Namgyal, on Tuesday made a strong case for status quo to continue under the UT administration saying that the erstwhile state needs peace, security and progress more than polls.
The discussion on two Bills on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha, on Day 2 of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, saw a heated debate between the Treasury and the Opposition benches, with veteran TMC MP Saugata Roy demanding that the Centre set a definite time frame for holding Assembly polls in the UT.
Countering the TMC MP and other Opposition members, Namgyal said, «Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq (Abdullah) ji, is here, and with all due respect, I want to ask him: How many elections have you witnessed in your lifetime? Has there been a single election that was conducted peacefully, without guns and bombs going off and lives lost?»
Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Namgyal said «only if there's life, there is a world», adding that the Union Territory needs peace and security more than elections at this point.
«We can't hold elections by putting people's lives at risk. There can be no elections at the cost of national security or public safety,» the BJP MP argued.
In a swipe at previous regimes in the erstwhile state, Namgyal said, «Back in the day, one was terrified visiting Kashmir, especially the South Kashmir region which used to be the hotbed of militancy and terror.
At the back of our minds, there used to be a gnawing fear that we might not return alive. In a region where guns rang out and bombs went off previously, there's a reign of peace now.
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