Jammu: Days after PDP and BJP formed the government here afresh, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said his party had entered into the coalition despite “totally different” ideologies of the two parties to fight separatist forces and serve Jammu and Kashmir.
He said BJP has “emotional and ideological” relationship with Jammu and Kashmir and would never compromise with any type of separatism.
“We have a political ideology that we will never compromise with any type of separatism. We will oppose it,” said Jaitley, Minister for Finance and Information and Broadcasting, while attending a party programme here.
“Today it is a political reality that the mainstream political parties and the people of Kashmir region come together in our fight against separatism and we have to use this coalition in that direction,” he said as he urged all political forces in the state to come together and fight the forces of separatism.
Jaitley said it is “known to everybody and our friends in the PDP also know that our ideologies are totally different but in such a political scenario to serve the country and the state, BJP got the opportunity to serve the State.”
His comments on coalition came less than a week after PDP and BJP formed afresh the government headed by Mehbooba Mufti after nearly three months of uncertainty.
The two parties ran a Coalition Government headed by PDP leader Mufti Sayeed for 10 months before his sudden death on 7th January. Thereafter, there was wrangling between the two parties, leading to uncertainty for sometime.
Responding to questions, Jaitley said, “I will not comment about the country but will comment on Jammu and Kashmir. BJP not only has a political relationship but an emotional and ideological relationship with Jammu and Kashmir.”
He recalled that when Jan Sangh, the parent party of BJP, was formed, the first issue it raised was about Jammu and Kashmir and the leaders made sacrifices.
“The nationalistic path that we are following, its foundation was laid by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Prem Nath Dogra,” the Union Minister said.
“Today, it is a unique situation and in which the people of the State gave a verdict during elections in which the maximum seats in Jammu were won by us.
“In Kashmir, PDP got most number of seats and if we do arithmetic of all four major parties, the arithmetic decided which government would be formed so it was dictated by the arithmetic,” he said.
He said it was a hard situation, as to how to move forward, and the political leadership in state and in Delhi had to accept the challenge.
“I am of the opinion that several people contributed to making the state unit of the party strong,” he said.
Jaitley also expressed hope that BJP will form government in Assam. “It would be for the first time that in North East, in Assam, we will have a BJP government,” he said.
He said there was lot of talent in the party in Jammu as well.
“I saw Union Minister Jitendra Singh for the first time on TV when he used to speak on Amarnath agitation and we felt that he should be taken into the party fold. He became a parliamentarian, got a good portfolio in PM’s office and emerged as a successful minister,” he said referring to the BJP MP from Udhampur Doda.
Jaitley said in his first budget speech he had said the government should give money for outdoor and indoor stadiums in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Start this and complete them in a year or two and institutions like IITs, IIMS, AIIMS will become a living monument in Jammu region and we have all the resources to improve the infrastructure and we should use this opportunity towards this,” he said.
Jaitley, who was speaking after inaugurating the newly constructed party building in Jammu, said when the 2008 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections were being contested and he was in-charge of BJP’s affairs in the state, the party office was very small.
“A need was felt to have a bigger office so we decided that as people help the party during elections we saved something from it and bought land for the office,” he said.
He said the office in Jammu will become a nucleus of party activities.
“BJP is very weak at making party offices. Even today the party does not have its own office building. We formed government in Delhi 50 years ago in 1967 but still we don’t have a party office for Delhi unit,” he said.
He said the party manages its affairs from government bunglows but now BJP national president Amit Shah has decided to have party offices in not only all states but in every district.
“Now it is the responsibility of state BJP chief Sat Sharma to make sure to have an office in every district of the State,” he said.
He said a good party office has its own benefits as people come with their suggestions, complaints and the workers share mood of the people with party leadership. He suggested converting the old office building in Jammu to a state-centric research institution.