‘Assembly polls in J&K will be held according to the dateline set by the SC’
Says ‘Lotus’ will bloom on its own in Kashmir as BJP believes in ‘winning hearts’
Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday slammed the Congress, National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, alleging that most fake encounters and incidents of firing on youths in Jammu and Kashmir occurred during their rule.
Rejecting rival parties’ charge the BJP was more interested in Kashmir’s land than the welfare of its people, he said the BJP is in no haste and believes in winning the hearts of people as it will ultimately lead to the ‘lotus’, the party’s poll symbol, blooming across the Valley.
Addressing an election rally here, Shah also said that Assembly polls in J&K will be held according to the dateline set by the Supreme Court (September 30). “Nobody should have any doubt on this,” the minister said.
Shah alleged that the Congress, NC and PDP exploited the youths of Kashmir.
“These three parties did not allow democracy to grow in Jammu and Kashmir… on the pretext of security, our Kashmiri youths were exploited. I want to ask (NC president) Farooq Abdullah and the PDP – under whose rule most of the fake encounters took place, who fired on the children of Kashmir and handed the gun to them? It is these three parties.”
But the BJP, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, restored peace and ensured development after the abrogation of Article 370, Shah said.
“Modiji restored peace in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K slipped into backwardness due to terrorism and agitations for the past 70 years.
“Modi facilitated the end of terrorism, fake encounters, stone-pelting, and Pakistan-sponsored strikes, paving the way for development in J&K,” he said.
The BJP’s rival parties have asked people not to vote for the BJP and its “proxies”, claiming the ruling party was more interested in the land of Kashmir than the welfare of its people.
“I want to clear the misgivings being created among Kashmiri youths that the BJP wants to take the land of Kashmir by force.
“The BJP is not among those who occupy land by force but believes in winning the hearts of people,” Shah told the rally held here in support of Jugal Kishore, who is seeking the third term from the Jammu parliamentary constituency.
Shah said the BJP is in no haste as it knows that the party’s symbol ‘lotus’ will bloom on its own in the Valley with the love of people.
He asked people in Kashmir not to vote for the Congress, NC and PDP, saying they have only exploited them over the past seven decades.
The Home Minister said the vote of ‘lotus’ is a vote for Modi “under whose government J&K was benefitting the most among all parts of the country”.
“Modi fulfilled the dream of Syama Prasad Mookerjee who made the supreme sacrifice on this land for his slogan of ‘ek desh mein do vidhan, do pradhan aur do nishan nahi chalenge’.
“The evil shadow of Article 370 is gone now and the tricolour is touching the skyline across J&K like the rest of the country,” he said.
He said nobody has the power to raise pro-Pakistan slogans and now the air reverberates only with the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ in every nook and corner of J&K.
“The change happened because of Modi. The PDP was saying that nobody will raise the tricolour if Article 370 is revoked but I want to tell Mehbooba that we will be gone but the tricolour is going to stay forever and flutter with honour, pride and prestige,” he said.
Abdullah was saying that BJP will not be able to revoke Article 370 even if Modi comes to power 10 times but “Modi did it in his second tenure only'”.
Shah said terrorism in J&K is taking its last breath and the youth who were carrying stones in their hands are now equipped with laptops and pursuing their goals.
He said the abrogation of Article 370 also led to the restoration of rights to various sections of the society including women, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and other backward classes (OBC) who were deprived of the constitutional rights by the Congress and the National Conference.
Highlighting various developmental schemes and projects undertaken by the Modi government since 2014, he said the budget which was enhanced many times was utilised by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration for the welfare of the people.
“The Lt Governor ensured zero-tolerance against corruption and also showed the door to those linked to terrorism,” he said, referring to the sacking of over 50 government employees who were dismissed from service for their alleged involvement in terror activities.
The Home Minister assured the people that the Modi government would develop border villages at par with Jammu city, take the number of tourist arrivals to three crore and encourage border tourism besides providing piped domestic gas to every household.
