Srinagar- The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) Tuesday declared to field independent Sikh candidates on a few seats in Kashmir to ensure the Sikh community has its representation in the legislative assembly.
The decision comes on the heels of maiden assembly elections following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Sikh body also urged the majority community to back their candidates in the upcoming assembly elections, the dates of which are expected to be announced by the Election Commission of India anytime soon.
“As the Sikh community in J&K lacks representation in state assembly and has consistently faced discrimination from the successive regimes including the NC, PDP, Congress, and ruling BJP, the APSCC has decided to field independent Sikh candidates on a few seats to ensure the Sikh community has its representation in the legislator,” APSCC Chairman, Jagmohan Singh Raina said at a press conference in Srinagar.
Instead of stitching an alliance with any political party, APSCC, he claimed, will field ‘independent’ candidates on a few seats where the Sikhs have a significant electorate.
The Sikh community, Raina claimed, has always supported regional political parties in their bids to win the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in J&K. Nevertheless, none of them bothered to respond to their concerns, and as a result, the unemployment rate of Sikh youth is far higher than it should be.
“We had been calling for reservation of seats for the Sikh community in the erstwhile state assembly, but regrettably, the discriminatory political parties that use the Sikh vote bank to win elections have never bothered to address this long-standing demand of ours,” he added.
Sikh candidates in the forthcoming assembly elections in J&K would aim to teach a lesson to those, who he alleged, discriminated against the minority community.
“We have 17000 votes in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district followed by 14000 in north Kashmir’s Baramulla and 9000 in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk assembly constituency. Since we have decided to field independent candidates, we appeal to our Muslim brethren in Kashmir to back our candidates and send them to assembly so our voices are collectively raised and our issues resolved,” Raina said.
After winning elections, he claimed, the leaders of all the political parties in J&K become appointees of the federal government, and lack the courage to speak out for their own people in the Assembly or Parliament.
Why should we rely upon them? What the hell have they done for us? I can promise you that, once our candidates are elected, they will not just speak for the Sikh community but bring up the concerns affecting the majority population as well, said Raina.
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