Vijaypur: Expressing happiness over the realization dawning on the entire political spectrum of Jammu and Kashmir that the political role of Jammu cannot be downplayed or put under the carpet anymore because of the self-centric politics of chosen and privileged few, Senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana today said Jammu is destined to play an equal role in the political discourse of the Union Territory.
“Jammu region is not community specific but it encompasses all the people of the Jammu region, irrespective of religion, race or caste,” Devender Rana said at the sidelines of a function to inaugurate education enterprise in the presence of Prem Sagar Aziz former Minister and Er. Dil Bahdur Singh Jamwal, Incharge BJP Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Vijaypur this afternoon.
When asked to react over a senior politician and Member of Parliament raising slogans of Jai Dogra and Jai Jammu in Udhampur, Rana said this vindicates the position taken by him in the recent past. He said that he had not pitched for Jammu’s larger role in decision-making and the political empowerment in the Jammu Declaration resolve three and half years ago to put one province against the other, or one segment of the society against the other but the historical fact of the part played by this region in socio-economic development and political awakening of the erstwhile state that had got shadowed due to decades-long discrimination and neglect by the vested interests. He said that he was being mocked publicly and condemned as divisive and communal just for raising the voice of Jammu by those political outfits who are now raising the same slogans.
“Now the same lot of politicians take pride in raising slogans of Jai Jammu and Jai Dogra,” Rana said, adding this is the reality of Naya Jammu and Kashmir under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is steadily but single-mindedly treading the path of peace and normalcy.
“The nightmare of a choked Valley is over and the people there are relishing the benefits of normalcy, which had been grabbed by, not only the terrorists sponsored from across the borders but also by the local actors, who had developed a vested interest in boiling Kashmir. Their politics sustained on the turbulence in the Valley and they kept burning the midnight oil in promoting the culture of stone pelting and hartals,” he added.
Devender Rana described the change in the mindset of the so-called political stalwarts, who ruled Jammu and Kashmir in turns, to the ground slipping under their feet due to total rejection by the politically sagacious people. “Finding themselves pushed to the wall, they now take shelter and refuge in the serene shadow of Jammu, which is known for its spirit of assimilation and sense of sacrifice. Despite facing abject neglect during successive governments, Jammu faced all the injustices meted out to them, not by the people of Kashmir but their feudal elite, with grace and grandeur,” he maintained.
Rana asserted that the BJP believes in inclusive Jammu and Kashmir, with every segment of society, irrespective of region, religion, race, or caste having equal opportunities to prosper and progress and equal rights in the governance. “The party does not believe in the political hegemony of any region or a particular section of elites.”
“The people’s power will triumph under the cherished agenda of Modi’s Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas,” he asserted.
On being questioned by media persons about his response to the changing political scenario in the Union Territory, Rana quipped: “Better late than never.” He said that the BJP stands for ‘Jai Bharat and Jai Jammu and Kashmir’.
Earlier, Devender Rana inaugurated an education enterprise at Gurha Morh, Vijaypur.
Rana congratulated the young entrepreneurs Nishesh Gupta and Amit Babouria for their initiative and wished them success in all their endeavors. He hoped that the initiative will contribute to supplementing the efforts of imparting quality education to the younger generation.
