JAMMU: Congress activists led by President of J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), G A Mir and other senior leaders of the state unit of the party marched towards the building of Civil Secretariat, but were stopped on way.
Some senior Congress activists including Mahila Congress leaders sustained minor injuries when the police prevented the Congress leaders march from proceeding ahead and resorted to mild lathi charge to thwart the attempt of the PCC leaders to Gherao Civil Secretariat on the opening day of Darbar in Jammu today.
The senior leadership of JKPCC took out a march from Shahidi Chowk Jammu towards Civil Secretariat via Residency Road, Raghu Nath Bazaar and City Chowk before courting arrest in protest against the failure of the PDP-BJP Coalition Government on all fronts and the policies of the Centre Government.
“Five of our women workers were injured in the cane charge. Several of our senior leaders including Mir and several former ministers are amongst 300 party workers who courted arrested today,” Chief Spokesman of State Congress Ravinder Sharma claimed. He said the party was forced to come on the roads to protest the “complete failure of the State and the Central Government” on all fronts.
Congress workers also raised slogans against the BJP-PDP coalition government.
“Not a single promise that was made to the people of the country and the state prior to the elections has been fulfilled. The people of the country and the state are left in the lurch,” Sharma said.
As the protesters reached Raghunath Mandir Chowk, a heavy contingent of police laid barricades and prevented the Congress leaders from proceeding towards Civil Secretariat via Raghunath Bazaar, City Chowk.
Upon this the Congress leaders held a dharna and strong protest demonstration at the site raising slogans against the State Government for trying to prevent them from lodging protests over the failures of the government in the peaceful and democratic manner.
Later the leaders insisted on proceeding further which resulted into minor scuffle and the police resorting to mild lathi charge resulting into injuries to several Congress activists including some Mahila Congress leaders.
The protesters succeeded in marching ahead towards City Chowk and Shalamar Chowk before they were taken into custody and detained in Police Lines Gandhi Nagar.
All the senior leaders of the party were taken into custody, who included Sham Lal Sharma, Tara Chand, Madan Lal Sharma, Mula Ram, Raman Bhalla, CLP Leader Nawang Rigzin Jora, Kanta Bhan, Ravinder Sharma, MLAs Gulzar Wani, Mumtaj Khan, MLCs Naresh Gupta, Sham Lal Bhagat, Former Ministers, Mohammad Sharif Niaz, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, Yogesh Sawhney, S. Manjit Singh, Raman Matoo, General Secretaries Vikram Malhotra, Shah Mohd. Chaudhary, Manmohan Singh, Faqir Nath, Namrata Sharma, Shah Nawaz chaudhary, ex- MLAs Th. Balbir Singh, G.L. Chalotra, Krishan Chander Bhagat, Ashok Dogra, Indu pawar (President Mahila Congress); Kuldeep Raj Verma, Th. Hari Singh, Pranav Shagotra- President Youth Congress, B.S. Sambyal (Seva Dal), Neeraj Kundan (NSUI), Shiv Kumar Sharma (INTUC) ,Districts Presidents Anil Chopra- Jammu, Subash Gupta- Kathua, Sain Abdul Rashid-Rajouri, Ashok Gupta- Udhampur, Arun Singh Raju- Ramban, S. Amolak Singh, M.K Bhardwaj, K.K Pangotra, M.A. Goni, Mashevar Singh, Ashok Sharma, Hira lal Pandita (Migrant Cell), Mehrajuddin Zargar, Gurdarshan Singh, Gajan Sigh ( Minority Cell), Secretaries Praveen Sarwar Khan, Shamsher Singh Chib, Thomas Khokher, Soba Singh, Neeraj Gupta, Hari Singh Chib, Pawan Raina, Manjeet Singh Jatt, Imtiaz Ahmed Khanday , Kulbir Singh Pathania , Ashok Dubey, Narinder Sharma, Ashwani Puri, , Surinder Gupta, Nadim Sharief Niaz, Sanjeev Sharma(panda), Imran Zaffer, Santosh Sharma, Suman Chaudhary, Vandna Sharma, Sita Devi, DCC functionaries B.B. Gupta, Sukhdev Choudhary, Dr. Ramakant Khajuria, Gourav Chopra,, Naresh Maini, Gourav Kapoor, Madan Lal Malagar, Sunil Kumar, J.L. Koul Ashwani Sethi, Parshotam Mehra Kirtui Gupta, Sanjay Gupta, Raj Kumar Sodi, Puneet Arora, Camers David, Harjinder Singh, Jodh Singh, Sanjay Gupta, Pawan Dev Singh, Sardar Singh, Nitam Pandoh, Babu Singh Sushil Sharma Koshal Kumar, Ch. Dwarka, Uttam Singh Gurdeep Singh, Ashu Mehra Arun Singh, Chanchal Popli, Vinay Abrol, Surinder Singh, Bharat Bhushan,, Karuna Devi,, Sunil Salathia, Pawa Bhagat, Amrit Bali, Vipan Sharma, Suresh Sharma, Om Prakash, DDewan Chand, Rakesh Bhagat, Vijay Singh Chib, Abdul Rashid, Suman Lata and others.
Earlier, addressing the gathering PCC Chief G.A Mir lashed out at the PDP-BJP Government in the State for its failure on all fronts and vitiating the atmosphere of peace and harmony in the State due to their wrong and directionless policies. He said that the Modi led Government at the Centre has failed to fulfill a single commitment with the people and has brought miseries for the common man due to unprecedented price hike in the country.
“The ex-servicemen have been betrayed and committing suicide for One Rank One Pension (OROP) and the Modi Government is behaving in insensitive and undemocratic manner detaining the family members of the martyred Ram Kishan Grewal and AICC Vice President, Rahul Gandhi,” he added.
Mir described the Coalition Government as total failure on all fronts and causing unrest and untold miseries to each and every section of the society due to its wrong policies and assured the people that Congress would continue to play its role of a responsible and vibrant opposition to highlight the failures of the government and make it accountable to the people of the state.
He said that Congress is committed to strengthen the secular fabric of the state and to seek equitable development of three regions and all parts of the state.