JAMMU: Enraged over the U-turn taken by the BJP-PDP Government with regard to the development of Sainik Colony in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) workers led by Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and former Minister, held a demonstration at Exhibition Ground here.
Angry protesters also torched the effigy of the Coalition Government amidst anti-government and BJP slogans accusing it of surrendering before the Separatist ideology.
Lambasting the BJP, Harsh said that the saffron leaders who earlier groaned on trivial issues with stiff opposition to the proposals of AFSPA revocation, withdrawal of troops etc had taken one somersault after the other in quick succession during the last two years only to remain in power.
Bitten by the power bug, he maintained, the saffron leaders had compromised their 70 yrs old ideology and chosen to promote the separatist agenda only to enjoy the fruits of power.
Flaying the BJP for its silence over the repeated announcements of the government to shelve the Sainik Colony project in Kashmir, Singh described the step as highly reprehensible and retrograde which could have adverse impact upon the morale of the armed forces. He said that Sainik colony project for Kashmir was conceptualised, on the analogy of Jammu, to accommodate and to rehabilitate the ex-serviceman who had made supreme sacrifices for the unity and integrity of the nation.
Singh observed that the government by its decision of abandoning Sainik Colony project was not only discrediting itself but doing the greatest disservice to the soldiers who risked their lives to defend our borders, fought militancy and terrorism within the country, assisted in natural calamities, tsunami, earthquakes, floods, epidemics, countered Assembly and Parliament attacks and even rescued people from bore wells when local administration had totally failed to deal with the internal crisis.
Lampooning the BJP for its acquiescence to the Kashmir centric and separatist ideology, Singh cautioned it to refrain from its suicidal surrenders which could cost it its postal address in the days to come.
Others who participated in the protest included Rajesh Padgotra, Gagan Partap, Sham Gorkha, Nirmal Kesar, Anil Rakwal, Ravinder Jamwal, Khajoor Singh, Sanju and Inderpal.