New Delhi: Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, a young lawmaker of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Ladakh made a passionate intervention in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during the debate on abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Namgyal’s speech in the lower house focused largely on criticizing the Congress party for not doing enough for Ladakh region when it was in power before.

“I am very glad that a lot of people referred to Ladakh, Leh and Kargil in their speeches but I want to know that do they really know what Ladakh is? In the last seven decades, Ladakh was not embraced, it was thrown in one corner and there were statements in this House that it was that land where not one speck of grass grows," he said while beginning his speech in the House.

“We have struggled for 71 years to make Ladakh a union territory and to be a part of India. The earlier governments gave us no audience and never tried to understand us. Under Kashmir, our development, our political aspiration, our identity, our language – if all of this got lost it is because of Article 370 and the Congress party is responsible for that," he added.

Namgyal, 34, is a first-time Lok Sabha member. He earlier served as a council in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh and as the state media secretary of the BJP as well. His intervention in the Lok Sabha drew applause from the treasury benches as he took on not just the Congress but also the regional parties of the region - National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“The district presidents in Leh of NC and PDP signed a memorandum of union territory, they were thrown out of the party by issuing a press release. And today, these people talk about democracy – was that your democracy which was about shutting down people," he added.

He said adding that if Article 370 is implemented only two families will lose their job and at the same time Kashmir will have a bright future. He added that people in both Kargil and Ladakh have supported it being a union territory.

"They will not contest Panchayat elections but when it comes to their posts, they will contest. This is to ensure finishing off grassroot democracies and only look out for themselves...they think Kashmir is their ancestral property but that is no longer true," he added. After his intervention, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also praised him saying such young lawmakers must be encouraged to speak more in the House.

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