Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 29: Former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla has alleged that despite being in power at the Centre and in the State, BJP has miserably failed on governance front and let down Jammu in all aspects.
While interacting with the people from Greater Kailash area of Gandhinagar constituency, Bhalla said this Government has nothing to showcase as its achievement. He said treachery and deceit of the BJP is haunting Jammu people who reposed their unflinching faith and support to it with the hope that Jammu may perhaps get a better deal as during the days of its wilderness in the opposition, the BJP leaders were crying hoarse over discrimination and neglect.
PCC leader said that sense of alienation and deprivation being felt in Jammu Province also needs to be understood and addressed. Bhalla said that despite putting 25 Assembly seats into the kitty of BJP, Jammu suffers. He attributed this sense of deprivation to the exploitative and opportunistic politics of the BJP and its local leaders. He recalled the role of BJP in opposition and said that instead of seeking better way of life for them, they were misused as vote bank. “And once sitting on the driver’s seat in Government, the very existence of these people has been undermined”, he added.
“The people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh should be empowered as a matter of right and not as charity”, he said while recalling the inclusive character of the State which can legitimately take pride on its inclusiveness and glorious pluralistic ethos. He said Jammu, being abode of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, has always shown the spirit of assimilation and accommodation and is a shining example of pluralistic character.
Bhalla referred to discrimination meted out to Jammu candidates in various categories of posts filled by the Public Service Commission, saying that the BJP has failed to explain this to meritorious youth. The damage done to Jammu psyche is immense and BJP leadership will have to come clear on the compelling reasons for ignoring the interests of this region.