Lok Sabha Passes Jammu & Kashmir Budget Amid Spat Over Kashmir Pandits’ Exodus
Jammu Kashmir -The Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Budget 2022-23 of around Rs 1.42 lakh crores on Monday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the union territory.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman also presented the supplementary demands for the year 2021-22 totalling Rs 18,860.32 crore for the union territory. Sitharaman said that 40,000 projects were completed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2021-22.
Sitharaman also accused Congress of leaving the minority Pandit community in Kashmir to its own devices. This comes amid a spat between the Treasury and Opposition benches over the exodus of Kashmir Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s.
Reportedly, the Opposition had already objected to the bill being taken up for discussion in the parliament without being circulated in advance to them. The issue of Kashmiri Pandits raised the temperature of the Lok Sabha. Sitharaman used strong words to attack Congress over a series of tweets issued by Congress’ Kerala unit relating to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley during the 1990s. Leaders started talking about this issue after the release of the film “Kashmir Files”. Reportedly, several members of the Lok Sabha talked about this issue during the debate.
Related Posts
In a series of tweets with the hashtag #KashmirFiles vs truth on Sunday, the Kerala Congress accused the BJP government of not providing security to pandit families. Sitharaman slammed Congress for writing such posts against the BJP.
Political row in Lok Sabha
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and Janata Dal (U) MP Sunil Kumar Pintu demanded that the film “Kashmir Files” be made tax free in all states of the country. However, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Danish Ali called for a ban on the film because the party feels that film is capable of spreading hatred among various communities.
