‘Assembly elections in J&K by Sept’
Brave people of Valley should teach dynasts a lesson
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 20: Union Home Minister Amit Shah today called upon the people of Kashmir to vote BJP or any other party but end the monopoly of three dynastic parties including Congress, National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by voting them out in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
He charged these political parties with not allowing democracy to flourish in Jammu and Kashmir saying the Panchayat elections were held for the first time in seven decades by the BJP Government.
Speaking at CNN-News 18 Rising India Summit 2024, Shah, in response to a question on Parliamentary polls in Jammu and Kashmir, said for the last 75 years of independence, the people of Kashmir were deprived of democracy, Constitutional rights and benefits of Central Schemes by three dynastic political parties.
“To strengthen democracy, the people of Kashmir should vote BJP or any other party but teach the three political parties (Congress, NC and PDP) a lesson,” the Union Home Minister said.
Asserting that opening of BJP’s account in Kashmir doesn’t matter, he said the big issue is that the people should punish the three dynastic political parties by voting out them for not allowing democracy to get roots in the Valley.
“We held Panchayat polls for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir since independence and gave 30,000 public representatives. We gave Councils at Tehsil and Zila levels. We want democracy to reach to the bottom of Jammu and Kashmir,” Amit Shah said.
He added that the people of Kashmir should be brave to teach the dynastic political parties a lesson.
About reforms in the region after the removal of Article 370, Shah said, “Today, every Kashmiri gets an annual health insurance of Rs 5 lakh, water supply and rice, tourism is flourishing, theatres have opened after 30 years. Muharram procession was also taken out after nearly three decades. This is all because of democracy.”
About the dates for the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said as per the Supreme Court order, the electoral exercise should be conducted by September.
Shah asserted that the BJP will get more seats in Uttar Pradesh this Lok Sabha elections than in 2014 and that the people will teach a lesson to all dynastic parties.
He also said the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) remains an agenda of the BJP as it believes that a secular country should have one law for all people.
On the possibility of an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, he said it will be clear in next two to three days. “Negotiations are on. We want all NDA parties to come together.”
On Bihar, Shah said that this is for the first time, the BJP is going to fight the Lok Sabha polls as the “big brother” with more seats than its allies.
Making it clear that the BJP will get more than 25 seats out of the total 42 in West Bengal, Shah said the party will also get more number of seats in Southern States, Punjab and other areas.
Asked about the UCC implementation, Shah said it is a long-standing issue which the party cannot abandon.
“The UCC is our issue since 1950. Our party has agitated for this. We cannot move away from this. We believe that in a secular country, there should be just one law for all. UCC is BJP’s promise to the people of the country,” he said.
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