J&K Hindus’ majority status an aberration: MOS Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh has said that the issue of majority status of Hindus in Muslim-majority states such as Jammu and Kashmir is an aberration that needs to be corrected. In exclusive interview with WION/DNA, Singh said that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter and in the course of time some mechanism would be developed to resolve the issue.

The government, he said, was also trying to find the best way out.

He said in most of the Northeastern states, Hindus are not a majority community and in Punjab although Sikhs are in majority, they are a minority community by definition. The minister said if one goes by the Constitution, Muslims are minorities regardless of the state they live in. Similarly, Christians would be considered a minority community in Meghalaya even if they are in majority there.

He said although the aberration has been there for long, no one tried to resolve the issue.

Singh said the government was committed to rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. The government, he said, is weighing the options as safety and security of the community is the main priority.

On the volatile situation in Kashmir valley, Singh said separatists, who could not make it in mainstream politics, were taking an extreme stand. Similarly, mainstream politicians when out of power tend to take extreme positions. The separatists, he said, were using the stone-throwers to promote their activism in the Valley and hold the Centre to ransom.