Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 20: Reaffirming his stand for Regional Councils to Jammu, senior Congress leader and Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Sharma today raised the pitch for a Hindu Chief Minister in the State.
“If Ghani Khan Choudhary could become Chief Minister of Hindu majority West Bengal and Abdul Rehman Antuley of Maharashtra where Muslim population is merely two percent, why can’t a Hindu lead the Jammu Kashmir and become a CM here,” he said amidst thunderous applause by the Youth Congress workers during a Sadhbhavana rally on birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Akhnoor town, here today.
He also gave example of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and four Muslim Presidents, who belonged to minority community but rose to the top positions in the country.
“If our approach is secular and we don’t discriminate with anyone on the basis of religion, then what is the problem if a minority Hindu leads the Muslim majority Jammu Kashmir,” he said while coining the new slogan ahead of forthcoming Assembly elections in the State where Bhartiya Janta Party is eying on Hindu votes with saffron agenda.
The Congress leader, who is known for his pro-Jammu postures despite being a minister in the National Conference –led coalition Government, reiterated his demand for Regional Council to Jammu for ensuring equitable development here.
“Regional Council to Jammu and Sub-regional Councils to Poonch-Rajouri, Chenab Valley and North Kashmir, comprising Kupwara, Bandipora and Baramulla will end the uncertainty as well as ensure equitable development of all areas of the State,” he explained.
Sham Lal Sharma did not miss the opportunity also to raise his voice over meager representation of Jammuites in the seat of power and asked how this region could get justice when out of 7000 employees in the State Civil Secretariat, only 200 belonged to Jammu.
This was not for the first time when Sham Lal Sharma has pitched for Regional Council and raised other pro-Jammu issue but coining the slogan of Hindu Chief Minister in Jammu Kashmir is unprecedented in history of Congress.
The demand seems to have been raised in the wake of purported polarization in the region where saffron Bhartiya Janta Party had annexed both the Parliamentary seats from Congress during the recently held Lok Sabha elections.
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence over the recent ceasefire violations along Indo-Pak border, Sham Lal Sharma asked Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley to explain their stand.
“There have been 80 ceasefire violations by Pak troops. Entire border is disturbed. Modi and his Defence Minister should come on the front foot and table an answer to the people of the country,” he said and recalled that repeated ceasefire violations and firing for the last over 11 days along the border in Jammu and Poonch had affected lives of people living along the border.
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