Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 17: Former minister and senior National Conference leader Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today assailed the BJP for denial of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir by not holding much awaited and long due elections to the Legislative Assembly, fearing imminent defeat and backlash of the people.
In a press statement issued here today, Sadhotra said the BJP leadership has sensed the public mood and overwhelming anger even in its restricted so-called core constituency owing to anti-people policies and failure on all fronts in the past nine years, which is why the Party is shying away in facing the electorate.
He said J&K has borne the brunt of the BJP’s authoritarian rule in terms of repeal of Articles 370 and 35A that has not only deprived the bonafide residents of their constitutional rights on jobs and lands but also downgraded the J&K State as a Union Territory. “Even some die-hard BJP cadres in Jammu are now openly criticizing the party leadership for relegating J&K to an embarrassing status where nothing but a dark future is haunting the residents, especially the youth,” he said.
Sadhotra took the BJP head on for failing in restoring the statehood to J&K despite making a commitment in Parliament. Counting the failures of the BJP’s Double Engine Government in ensuring development and smooth functioning of various utility services, he referred to the obtaining erratic power and drinking water supply in Jammu during these scorching summers. The development remains restricted to Government propaganda as nothing is visible on ground, he asserted.
The former minister also referred to obstructions in the rights’ of young students in pursuing higher education by exposing them to national level CUET and that too at the centres set up outside J&K. He also dwelt upon elaborately on the burgeoning unemployment problem, scams, and scandals in the recruitment process, rising prices of essentials, saying the BJP Government has subjected the people of J&K to a lot of miseries over the years.
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