Lack of development in Jammu and Ladakh led to fall of Mufti govt: Shah

Srinagar: BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday said that the party pulled out of the alliance with Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) earlier this week as the Mehbooba Mufti-led government had failed to ensure equal and balanced development of Jammu and Ladakh regions of the State along with the Kashmir Valley.

“BJP is a party of patriots. Governments hold no meaning to it but development and the security of the country do. The PDP-led government failed to ensure equal and balanced development of all the three regions of the State. Jammu and Ladakh were discriminated against so we decided to pull out of the government,” he said while addressing a rally in Jammu.

The rally was held to mark what the BJP said was ‘historic martyrdom anniversary’ of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee. This was Mr. Shah’s first visit to Jammu after the BJP pulled out of the coalition government resulting into its collapse and imposition of Governor’s rule in the PDP-led government in the State.

The local watchers say that the BJP president invoked alleged inequity with Jammu and Ladakh in an attempt to reach out its vote bank in the two regions of the State apparently keeping in view the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2019. The party had won three of the six Lok Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir and all of these in Jammu and Ladakh whereas the rest in the Valley had gone to the PDP in the 2014 elections. Also all 25 but one seats bagged by it in the J&K Assembly elections held the same year were in Jammu.

He said when a political party loses power the people associated with it grieve over it. “But when our government falls we yell Bharat mata ki jai because it is the interests of the people and the country which are paramount before us, not power,” he said.

He said that ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ signed with the PDP in 2015 was for seeking equal development of Jammu, Ladakh and the Valley, restoration of peace and put an end to the militant activities and ensure complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. “This dream was not realised. Neither peace was restored nor development of Ladakh and Jammu could take place even after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gave a package of Rs. 80,000 corers and visited the State more than a dozen times to ensure equal attention is paid to all the three regions of the State,” he said. He alleged that the package was not being implemented properly whereas many Centrally-sponsored schemes failed to see the light of the day.

“If the people of Jammu and Ladakh don’t get what is due to them even while we are in power it is better to sit in the opposition,” he said. He added that he was asked why the BJP decided to pull out of the coalition government and “I told them it were the people of Jammu who gave us the votes; hence it is they whom I should tell as to why we did it". He asked, "How can a government run if it ignores Jammu and Ladakh and doesn’t allow them to prosper.”

Mr. Shah said that the security situation in the State deteriorated to the extent that an Army jawan Aurangzeb was kidnapped  while going home for Eid and was subsequently murdered by militants. “Shujaat Bukhari, the editor of a newspaper too was murdered. India is a democratic country where an editor has freedom to write. The attacks on Army and other security forces saw an increase. Stones reached out the hands of children," he said.

he also alleged that the PDP-led government did not allocate land for AIIMS in Jammu despite the Centre approving the project and that Rs. 500 crores out of Rs. 2,000 crores sanctioned by the Centre for the erstwhile West Pakistan refugees “are still lying in the government's coffers.”

He alleged that the two families from National Conference and PDP ruled J&K for three generations but never did anything for people of Jammu and Ladakh and with Congress in power at the Centre also failed to do what the Modi government did for the State in just four years. “The two families with Congress indulged in all kind of corrupt practices,” he alleged.

Mr. Shah said that media was insisting on differences with the PDP leadership over the extension of Ramzan truce having prompted the BJP to pull out of the government. “The reason was failure in ensuing equal development of the all three regions of the State. No doubt there has to be zero tolerance to terrorism but development, peace, providing employment to youth, better health and sports facilities and also to ensure J&K completes with rest of the country were and will continue to be our priorities,” he said and asked the media to change its narrative on J&K.

He also said that the security forces should be allowed to do their work freely. “If attempts are made to disrupt peace don’t expect them to sit idle and do nothing. Let them do their work,” he said adding the Army and other security forces were enough strong and had the willpower too to defeat the enemy’s design to disrupt peace and impede development in the country.

He asked the Congress president Rahul Gandhi to explain what “relationship” was between its leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba as the latter has endorsed his statement that more civilians than militants are killed during Army operations in Kashmir. “Also Saifuddin Soz has agreed with (former Pakistan President) Musharraf’s view that Kashmir should become independent. But l4et me tell him (Mr. Soz) that Jammu and Kashmir will stay with India even if he takes rebirth for 100 times. The BJP will never allow it to secede from rest of the country,” he said.

He added, “Stop daydreaming. Jammu and Kashmir is integral part of the country. Syama Prasad Mookerjee has nourished it with his blood. Nothing will change it. You must apologize to the country.”  Paying glowing tributes to the Jana Sangh founder, Mr. Shah said that it was because of him that J&K and West Bengal were integral part of the country.     

The BJP president during his daylong visit reviewed the party’s preparations and strategy for the Lok Sabha elections due next year. He chaired several meetings including of the party’s election committee and reviewed organisational functioning, preparations for the forthcoming LS polls and its strategy.