STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Placing on record his deep appreciation of the March 18 very right and bold stand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP high command on the government formation in J&K, Prof Hari Om on Saturday said that the outright rejection of the three demands of the PDP seeking absolute political power, Paisa and accommodation of Pakistani sinister interests in this part of the state was a right decision in the right direction and it must be commended by all friends and well-wishers of India.
“Acceptance of the demands, including the demands seeking return of NHPC-run and controlled power projects to J&K government, withdrawal of AFSPA from certain areas in the state and vacation of the land which the Army had been using for training purposes and military operations just for the sake of a few loaves and fishes of office would have been construed by Kashmiri separatists as their spectacular victory and a great step forward as far as the ongoing secessionist and pro-Pakistan movement in Kashmir is concerned,” asserted Prof Hari Om. He added that by rejecting outright these demands, PM Modi and BJP high command had sent a right signal to Pakistan, Kashmiri separatists and Kashmiri parties of all hues that they meant serious business in the state and that they would not tolerate any non-sense in the future.
“By preferring national interest over petty power, PM Modi and BJP high command have set a noble example,” he said, adding that had they accepted these demands, Pakistan and its Kashmir-based agents as well as their supporters in the “mainstream” Kashmiri parties and political establishment would have got further emboldened and the result would have been disastrous for the people of the state and the nation as a whole.
“The acceptance of these three demands would have not only been considered by the Kashmiri separatists and others in Kashmir an act of retreat by the defeated Indian State from Kashmir, but it also would have further emboldened the votaries of limited accession to intensify their activities in the Valley to browbeat and blackmail New Delhi and seek more and more concessions calculated to further widening the already rather wide constitutional, political and emotional gulf between Kashmir and the rest of the country,” said Prof Hari Om.
Prof Hari Om also asserted that decision of PM Modi and BJP high command to not accept any pre-condition for the government formation is the crowning triumph of the nationalist people of the state, who had been from day one questioning the hobnobbing of the BJP with separatists and soft-secessionists and warning again and again that if the BJP continued to pursue the line it pursued after winning 25 seats from Jammu in the 2014 assembly elections, the national interest and the interests of the minorities, who constitute more than 40 per cent of the state’s population and occupy bulk of the state territories, would be greatly jeopardized.
“The people of Jammu province in particular deserve congratulations for their relentless struggle against the local BJP leadership, which behaved in a most irresponsible manner by dancing to the tunes of their new Kashmiri masters and letting down, humiliating and defeating its own constituency,” he further said, adding it’s time for the local BJP leadership to tender an unconditional apology for the sins they committed, rectify their mistakes and play the role of an effective and responsible opposition in the state.
Prof Hari Om also took the opportunity to urge PM Modi to look into the grievances and complaints of the neglected people of Jammu and Ladakh and internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus and give them some definite political instrument so that they could manage their own affairs themselves within India and Indian constitution, minus the atrocious Article 370 and Article 35-A.