Back حزب فهود جامو وكشمير الوطنية Arabic জম্মু ও কাশ্মীর ন্যাশনাল প্যান্থার্স পার্টি Bengali/Bangla Partit Nacional de les Panteres de Jammu i Caixmir Catalan जम्मू आणि काश्मीर राष्ट्रीय पँथर्स पक्ष Marathi Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party Swedish ஜம்மு காஷ்மீர் தேசிய சிறுத்தைகள் கட்சி Tamil జమ్మూ కాశ్మీర్ నేషనల్ పాంథర్స్ పార్టీ Tegulu

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party
AbbreviationJKNPP
LeaderAnkit Love
PresidentHarsh Dev Singh
FounderBhim Singh and Jay Mala
Founded23 March 1982 (42 years ago) (1982-03-23)
Headquarters17 VP House, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
NewspaperVoice of Millions
Student wingNational Panthers Student Union
Youth wingYoung Panthers
Women's wingWomen Panthers
Labour wingPanthers Trade Union
Peasant's wingFarmers Panthers Union
IdeologyDemocracy[1][2]
Anti-corruption[1][2]
Secularism[3]
Women's rights[4]
ECI StatusState Party[5]
AllianceIndian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (2023–2024)
Seats in District Development Council
2 / 280
Seats in Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
0 / 90
Election symbol
Website
jknationalpanthersparty.com[dead link‍]

The Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party is a socialist and secular state political party in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The party was founded on 23 March 1982 by husband and wife Prof. Bhim Singh and Jay Mala,[6][7] Its aim is to "demolish corruption, communalism, criminalization, drug menace" and to establish a real democracy through ultimate revolution.[1][2] Panthers party has maintained power at assembly and the local level for over four decades in its stronghold within the mountainous Udhampur constituency,[8] where in the vicinity 5.9 million tonnes of Jammu and Kashmir lithium reserves, the 7th largest known reserve in the world, with an estimated value of $500 billion,[9][10] was discovered in February 2023.[11]

Panthers Party had campaigned for over three decades for the abolition of Article 370 and Article 35A,[12][13] demanding that the special status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir be revoked,[14] and for it to be fully assimilated into the Republic of India. These demands were finally met by a presidential order in August 2019 that revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status. Panthers Party campaigns for a further division of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with the recognition of Hindu-majority Jammu Division as a new and separate state of India.[15][16]

In 2017, Ankit Love, the son of Bhim Singh and Jay Mala, announced his candidacy for Prime Minister of India for the 2019 Indian general election.[17][18] He became the party's leader on 28 May 2017. On 23 June 2021, Panthers Party President Prof. Bhim Singh was reported in the media as a potential candidate for the 2022 Indian vice presidential election,[19] as recommended for nomination by Ankit Love, just prior to meeting Prime Minister Modi at his residence for special dialogue in regards to the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.[20][21]

In 1996, the party was notable in moving the Supreme Court and the Election Commission to return the democratic process to militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir, when elections were held again in the state after a nine-year hiatus.[6][22][23]

The party formed a part of the coalition government of Jammu & Kashmir along with the Congress and PDP after the 2002 Jammu & Kashmir elections, winning all the seats in the Udhampur district, with Harsh Dev Singh serving as education minister in the cabinet,[24] and Yash Paul Kundal as the minister of animal and sheep husbandry.[25][26]

The party is a strong proponent of secular values in Jammu & Kashmir and across the region plagued by the terrorist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.[3] As a strong advocate of women's rights the Panthers Party women's wing works to protect women from domestic abuse in Jammu and Kashmir and female foeticide.[4] The Women Panthers have called for a 33% reservation of seats for women in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.[27]

Prof. Bhim Singh who is locally known as Sher-e-Jammu (Lion of Jammu)[28] is the party's Chief Patron and served as the Panthers Party chairman for 30 years till 2012, when his nephew Harsh Dev Singh became Chairman. Balwant Singh Mankotia has served as party's state president since 2010.[29][30]

The Panthers Party has been a long-time advocate of a sovereign statehood for Palestine.[31] It strongly condemned Israel in reaction to the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid that left nine humanitarian aid workers dead, and called on the Indian central government to support Palestinians inside and outside the UN.[32][33] In 2014, Panthers Party activists burned an effigy of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at protests held in New Delhi, calling for UN intervention under Chapter VII, and terming Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide."[34]

By December 2015, the Panthers Party's membership drive had reached a target of 100,000 members.[35]

Panthers Party has fielded candidates in other Indian states, including Delhi in 2015,[36] Uttarakhand in 2012,[37] and in 2007 contested all MLA seats in Himachal Pradesh. In 2017, Panthers Party contested elections in Punjab,[38] and Uttar Pradesh,[39][40] and reconstituted its branch in Rajasthan, headed by Ashok Bapna.[41] Panthers Party branch in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu,[42][43] is led by state president Naresh Ambedkar.[44]

  1. ^ a b c "History". JK Panthers Party. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c PTI (9 November 2010). "SC upholds freeze on delimitation in J&K till 2026". The Hindu.
  3. ^ a b "Headlines Today". Panther party MLAs disrupt house in Jammu and Kashmir assembly. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2015 – via youtube.com.
  4. ^ a b "Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP)". elections.in. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  5. ^ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) – Party History, Symbol, Founders, Election Results and News". www.elections.in. Retrieved 26 September 2015. It was the Bhim Singh-led JKNPP which moved the Supreme Court to hold elections in the militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir in the historic year 1996. The Chief Election Commission of India was persuaded to conduct elections in the state, only due to the efforts of JKNPP.
  7. ^ "Bhim greets Atal Bihari on his 84th birthday - Scoop News Jammu Kashmir". www.scoopnews.in. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  8. ^ Staff, The Dispatch (23 March 2023). "In Udhampur, Dr Farooq, Raman Bhalla attend Panthers Party rally". The Dispatch. Retrieved 10 May 2023. National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Congress working president Raman Bhalla on Thursday turned up at a rally organized by the Panthers Party on its foundation day in its stronghold of Udhampur.
  9. ^ "J&K: Bhim Singh's son takes over his Panthers Party to explore Lithium". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  10. ^ "People of J&K have exclusive right over lithium reserves: JKNPP president Harsh Dev Singh". The Times of India. 29 May 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 29 May 2023. Even with the present inferred lithium resources discovered in J&K, it is already the 7th largest known reserve of lithium in the world, and worth over Rs. 40 lakh crores or USD$500 billion, when lithium spot prices had hit a record high of $86,207 per tonne on 17 November 2022.
  11. ^ Pahwa, Nitish (28 February 2023). "One of the World's Most Dangerous Places Is About to Have One of Its Most Important Mines". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  12. ^ "JKNPP releases manifesto, promises amendment in Art 370". Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  13. ^ "'I Have Been Fighting In Supreme Court For Many Years For Removing Article 35A', Bhim Singh Tells PAGD". Kashmir Life. 7 November 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  14. ^ "NPP pleads for one flag from Kanyakumari to Kashmir". Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  15. ^ "NPP demands statehood for Jammu". Deccan Herald. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  16. ^ "'Dogra State Ka Darja Bahal Karo': Protests In Jammu For Separate State". Kashmir Observer. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  17. ^ Ganai, Naseer (24 February 2017). "Prime Minister Modi To Face Love Challenge In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections". Outlook India. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  18. ^ "Ankit Love has announced he's running to be India's next PM". London Live. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  19. ^ "Ankit Love wants nomination of Dr Karan Singh & Bhim Singh for President and Vice President of India". News - Cross Town News, a Leading Newspaper of J&K. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Restoration of Statehood was demanded in the meeting: Bhim Singh, Leader, Panthers Party, tells Madhavdas G on India Upfront". Twitter - Times Now TV. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  21. ^ "Approval of Instrument of Accession by Parliament essential : Bhim Singh". News - Cross Town News, a Leading Newspaper of J&K. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  22. ^ "Bhim Singh, President J&K ... vs Election Commissioner Of India ... on 4 April, 1996". indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. ^ "Sheila Dikshit releases Bhim Singh's book". The Hindu. 10 April 2010. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. ^ "Panthers Party feeling heat as BJP goes all out in Udhampur". Tribune News. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  25. ^ "KV Nagrota organizes 29th National Youth Parliament Competition". Daily Excelsior. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  26. ^ "Panthers fall flat". Daily Exelsior. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2017. Party's two-time MLA and former Minister Yash Paul Kundal
  27. ^ "Panthers women wing held demonstration for 1/3rd reservation". UNI India. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  28. ^ "NPP condoles death of Yash Sharma - Scoop News Jammu Kashmir". Scoop News. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  29. ^ "Young Bites : Daily | Leading News Paper of Jammu Kashmir". youngbites.in. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  30. ^ "Outlook India News : Bhim Singh's JKNPP splits, former ministers to form new party". www.outlookindia.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  31. ^ "Tame Israel in Gaza, Bhim Singh to Kerry". Kashmir Watch. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  32. ^ "JKNPP demands withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestine". DNA. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  33. ^ "Pro-India party condemns Israeli aggression in Palestine". National Turk. 11 June 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  34. ^ "Gaza Genocide: Panthers Party demands UN intervention under Chapter-VII". Kashmir Watch. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  35. ^ "NPP launches membership drive in Jammu distt". Daily Excelsior. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  36. ^ "When somebody else rode the 'bicycle' in elections". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  37. ^ "Parties having no support base in Uttarakhand contesting too". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  38. ^ "After Election Commission prod, number of parties jumps by 40%". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  39. ^ "Election Commission allocates symbols to independents". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  40. ^ "NPP holds emergency meeting in Delhi, decides to contest Assembly Polls in five states". Voice of Millions. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  41. ^ "Rajasthan PP reconstituted with a mission to strengthen National Integration". Brighter Kashmir. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  42. ^ "NPP pleads for one flag from Kanyakumari to Kashmir". 28 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  43. ^ "National Panthers Party of Tamil Nadu". tnnpp.in. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  44. ^ "Bhim Singh to attend J&K Accession Day function at Kanyakumari" (PDF). Greater Jammu. 26 October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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