The Assembly Committee has organised a ‘study tour’ to Ladakh for all the MLAs and ministers in Goa which will take place between September 6th and 10th. It has been said that the respective tour has been planned for the MLAs to study the development of Leh-Ladakh since the abrogation of Article 370 which stripped the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of special status. The Speaker of Goa Assembly has claimed that the MLAs can study the growth in tourism infrastructure, security and landscape in such a short span of time since the repealing of the said Article. However, one might wonder what is the connection between Goa and the intention behind this tour? What is the connection between abrogation of Article 370 and development?
Even if one was to give benefit of the doubt and consider the development has really taken place in Ladakh, what are Goan MLAs supposed to see there? If the government is to undertake a project or implement a scheme and, if similar projects/schemes exist in other states then such projects are studied in order to understand them better. That is the way study tours are organised and one cannot call a merely purposeless wandering as a fact-finding visit. Indeed, there have been study tours before this and they were widely discussed as well.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Many years ago a study tour for some MLAs was organised to observe the Singapore’s police system and their modus operandi. Back then, Goa Police’s uniform was khaki which was changed to white shirt and blue pants after the visit to Singapore. However, the shortcoming in the new colour was uniforms would soon get dirty. Eventually, the decision was reversed and the uniform was changed back to its original colour except for the traffic police staff. In short, the change in the uniform’s colour was the success of the Singapore tour. Later, another tour was organised to visit Europe to study the garbage treatment plant on the backdrop of Saligao waste treatment plant. The tour proved to be beneficial to some extent.
However, there is no solid reason behind visiting Ladakh. Only objective one could see when viewed objectively, is to see the work done by the Central BJP in the Union Territory. Rescinding Article 370 was BJP’s promise of many years which they finally fulfilled in 2019 August. More importantly, they bifurcated the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories with Ladakh being another one. What was the intention behind revoking the special status and bifurcation? That was not part of BJP’s promise.
Now as per the ruling party the development has taken off in the disputed land and even if one was to believe their claim, on what basis should one credit the development to abrogation of Article 370? In fact, no elections have been held in the newly formed union territories for the last four years. Why so? Is there no need for a people-appointed government there? It is mandatory as per the Constitution. Why are polls not conducted in the respective union territories? Is it a result of the repealing of Article 370? Is there no normalcy in the region due to the article’s abrogation? Is it not safe enough for the region to go up for the polls? If the answer to these questions is ‘Yes’ then the decision to remove the article should be considered as a wrong one. Therefore, the government should first conduct elections and then talk about the supposed development.
Secondly, what sort of development has Ladakh witnessed that the MLAs of Goa should visit to see it? It has been only four years since the formation of Ladakh as a union territory and it is administered by Lieutenant Governors who are appointed by the President. In other words, the Centre is administering the union territories including J&K and Ladakh. So, the local people of Kashmir cannot administer their own place. Is it an ideal situation for the government to flaunt so-called development there? And even if so, what would the Goan MLAs gain from it? It took 60 years for Goa to see its current development and the growth rate sped up even more after it achieved statehood in 1987 courtesy to the financial freedom. It is the exact opposite in the case of Ladakh as they lost their status of statehood and became a union territory instead. Needless to say, Ladakh has only faced the downgrade and it is clear as day that the so called study tour would turn out to be a nice picnic for the MLAs at the expense of taxpayer’s hard earned money.
