*BJP wants to govern J&K from Delhi: Solanki
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 18: Over 150 Congress leaders and workers were detained today as the police foiled their attempt to ‘Gherao’ the Raj Bhawan to protest against BJP-led Centre’s failure to curb increasing terrorist activities and giving extra powers to the Lieutenant Governor ahead of the Assembly elections in the Jammu and Kashmir.
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A large number of Congress workers led by AICC incharge J&K affairs, Bharatsinh Solanki, Pradesh Congress Committee president, Vikar Rasool Wani, working president Raman Bhalla, Ex-MP Ch Lal Singh, senior leaders -Ravinder Sharma, Mula Ram, Balwan Singh and several other former Ministers and ex-legislators came out of the party headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk and moved towards Residency Road and finally to Raj Bhawan for conducting its `Gherao’.
They were, however, stopped by the strong contingent of police, but the agitated and said shouting participants passed the barricades at Residency Road and reached Raghunath Mandir Chowk. As they were not allowed by police ahead, they sat on dharna on the road. Amidst scuffle with the protesting workers, the cops resorted to mild lathicharge and arrested several senior leaders including B S Solanki, Vikar Rasool Wani, Manoj Yadav, Raman Bhalla and many other leaders and party workers. They were packed in police vehicles/ buses and shifted to District Police Lines, Gandhinagar. During scuffle, senior Congress leader Vinod Sharma besides several other workers were injured. They all were later released.
The protest marked the start of planned agitation by the Congress to mobilize public support against rising terror incidents, granting of unbridled powers to the Lieutenant Governor and restoration of full Statehood before the Assembly elections.
“All tall claims of the BJP, especially post 2019 development have fallen flat before the growing terror incidents in otherwise peaceful Jammu region. Giving all powers to the Lt Governor means governing J&K from Delhi even after the formation of a popular Government which is against democracy,” Solanki told reporters during protest.
He said the Congress stands with the people, who are suffering immensely due to the rise in terror activities, inflation and unemployment.
“Jammu region was cleared of terrorism during the Congress-led UPA government. The revival of terrorism in the peaceful Jammu region is a serious cause of concern and shows the failure of this government,” he added.
PCC president Wani also came down heavily on the BJP and said five years have passed since the abrogation of Article 370 but there is no end to terrorism which is spreading fast to new areas across the Union Territory.
“Jammu and Kashmir was known as the crown of India but the BJP’s policies have destroyed it and also dishonoured its people. If all the powers will remain with the LG, what is the fun of holding the Assembly elections,” he asserted.
Wani said the Congress will intensify the agitation by taking it to the other district headquarters and block level in the coming days.
“We want revocation of black laws like granting unbridled powers to the Lt Governor, return of Statehood before the elections and all necessary measures to end growing terrorism,” working president Bhalla said.
He demanded restoration of statehood immediately and full powers to government to solve the hardships faced by people.
Prominent leaders who joined the protest included TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan, Hari Singh Chib, Yash Pal Kundal, Rajnish Sharma, Th Balbir Singh, Indu Pawar, Uday Chib (IYC), Narinder Gupta, MK Bhardwaj, Pawan Raina, Shashi Sharma, TS Tony, Namrata Sharma, Naresh Kumar, Amrit Bali, Suresh Dogra, Shakeel Shah, Praveen Khan, Balbir Singh, Shakeel Mir, Rajesh Sadotra, Subash Bhagat, Satish Sharma, Thomas Khokhar, Santosh Majotra, Th. Manmohan Singh, Pankaj Dogra, Sanjeev Sharma, Vinod Khajuria, Bhupinder Singh Jamwal and many others.
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