Jammu: The District Development Council polls are a fight between nationalism and separatist thinking, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said on Thursday while contending that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have rejected the “ideology of separatism” and want to move ahead with a “nationalistic approach”.
He said the “evil face and separatist agenda of the PDP had come to the fore with the arrest of its youth wing president Waheed Para” who allegedly had links with militants.
Chugh accused the PDP and National Conference of “looting J&K’s wealth” through scams like Roshni and being “hand in glove” with those trying to “destabilize and disintegrate” India.
Lashing out at the Congress, the BJP leader said it was acting like a B-team of NC and PDP as “deep down the party knows that it is a non-entity” in J&K.
Chugh, along with JKBJP vice-president Yudhvir Sethi and former minister Rajeev Jasrotia, was on campaign trail during filing of nomination papers from Kathua constituency by that district’s party president Raghunandan Singh Bablu.
“The DDC polls are a fight between the nationalist ideology of (veteran Dogra leader) Pandit Prem Nath Dogra and separatist thinking of (former chief minister) Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah,” Chugh claimed.
He said Dogra always stood for national integration and an inclusive approach wherein he advocated taking along all sections of society. Chugh claimed that former J&K chief minister Sheikh Abdullah “always propagated a separatist agenda”.
He accused the deceased leader of playing the “card of regionalism and religion” to create division among the people. The BJP leader further claimed that Abdullah never bothered to give equal rights to Gujjars, women and the weaker sections of society and never extended the benefits of Panchayati Raj in J&K due to which democracy at the grassroots level failed to prosper.
The BJP general secretary said the party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to spread Dogra’s inclusive approach across J&K. He said by abrogating Articles 370 and 35-A of the Constitution the Prime Minister has offered a befitting tribute to Dogra’s “nationalistic ideology”.
“The people of J&K have rejected the ideology of separatism and will uproot it completely to move ahead with the nationalistic approach,” Chugh said.
