Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Apr 23: Accusing the successive Congress and UPA Governments, at the Centre and the State, of discriminating against the Ladakh region, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can deliver justice to Ladakh.
Addressing an election meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was the Modi Government, which had, for the first time, addressed the long pending issues of Ladakh, which had been deliberately ignored by Congress and its allies because of their Kashmir-centric priorities. He said, the people of Ladakh have realized that only a BJP-led Government can offer them a fair deal, without getting succumbed to vote bank politics.
Just as the demand for granting an exclusive Division status to the Ladakh region was conceded by the Modi Government during the Governor’s rule, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the other demands would also be followed up in the same spirit. He informed that the demand to include the “Bothi” language in the VIII th Schedule of the Indian Constitution had been taken up with the Union Home Ministry before the election process began and hoped that it will be followed up after the elections are over.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is a new confidence built up among the people of Ladakh region who have been, over the last five years, equal beneficiaries of a host of pro-poor welfare schemes launched by the Modi Government. Citing examples, he said, the benefit of free gas cylinder and rural electrification was provided to Ladakh like any other part of the country, whereas, till a few years ago, the common refrain was that even the public welfare schemes of the Central Government were diverted to give preferential benefit to other regions of the State at the cost of the Ladakh region.
The expansion of the Leh Airport, inclusion of Kargil for an airport under the UDAAN Scheme and a new University for the students are some of the most recent measures announced by the Modi Government, said Dr Jitendra Singh and added that this developmental thrust will continue in future as well.
Seeking a vote in favour of the BJP candidate, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Dr Jitendra Singh mocked the Congress Party for its failure to manage even its election campaign, and said that the contradictions within the Congress Party are obvious from the fact that while one of the Congress leaders is contesting the Parliamentary elections from Ladakh as party’s official candidate, there is another Congress leader who has jumped into the fray as the party’s unofficial candidate. He, therefore, appealed for a vote in favour of BJP, in order to ensure political stability and developmental continuity.
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