STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Ahead of the Assembly elections, former minister and veteran leader Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali joined the BJP on Sunday, saying he joined the party with his commitment to peace and development in the region.
Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Dr Jitendra Singh, along with BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh and Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina, welcomed Ali into the party fold at the headquarters in Jammu. They emphasised that his entry would boost the party’s grassroots-level presence in Jammu and Kashmir.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, praised Ali’s decision, and said it would fortify the party’s local presence and address public expectations.
“We want tourism, not terrorism. People should support us. You have to decide whom you want to vote for peace, development and prosperity of the region,” he said.
The Union Minister said that the Modi government granted the rights to the ST community after decades of injustices. He mentioned the grant of reservation to the community for the first time after the revocation of Article 370 by the Modi government. He said that 2 crore tourists have reached here for the first time defeating terrorism. Brotherhood, peace, and development have replaced stone-pelting and separatism in Jammu & Kashmir under Modi. Stones in the school bags have been replaced by notebooks and laptops. New roads, highways, bridges, hospitals, 3 three-tier democracy with the DDC election have replaced nepotism and corruption. Earlier, countless money was spent on papers, but it went to the pockets of few and was never spent on the ground for the welfare of the common masses, he said and added that the Modi government is committed to working for the welfare of people with even more vigor.
Tarun Chugh, while welcoming Choudhary Zulfikar, attacked Abdullah, Mufti, and Nehru-Gandhi families for ditching and doing injustices to the Gujjar-Bakerwal community for 70 years. He said that these parties banned inter-district recruitment hence prohibiting the community from taking the benefit of government jobs. For decades, the voice of this community went unheard, and now PM Modi has heard and acted upon the core issues of this community. Today, the J&K has been progressing at the speed ahead of the whole nation, under the Modi government, he said.
Ravinder Raina also welcomed the political stalwart and praised him for his extensive public-centric approach. He recalled that as a dedicated public representative, the former Minister brought many development projects for the welfare of the people.
Dr. Jitendra Singh described Choudhary Zulfikar as the carrier of a political legacy that will benefit the area as well as the party. He said that the Modi government strengthened the grassroots level democracy and progressed J&K on the development front. He enumerated multiple Medical Colleges, Bio-tech Park, Shahpur Kandi project while stressing that the Modi government not only initiated the new development projects but also brought to life the abandoned major development projects in J&K.
Zulfkar Ali, accompanied by scores of his supporters and leaders, expressed his satisfaction in joining the BJP, citing his admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts for bringing peace and development to the region.
“I have chosen to join the BJP and Modi ji and Shah Sahib to steer our region towards progress, development and prosperity,” Ali told reporters.
He emphasised a departure from emotive politics often advocated by leaders from the valley, and said “We do not have anything to do with emotional politics preached by political leaders from the valley.”
He highlighted the need for enhanced tourism initiatives in the Rajouri-Poonch area, underscoring its potential as a tourist destination comparable to Kashmir.
“I was in the process of finding a new path for serving the people of Jammu and Kashmir and finally found the BJP the right party to join to further the cause of the people of the region through it,” he said.
He further said he wanted to bring all top BJP leaders to the Rajouri-Poonch belt, so they could hear first-hand the problems faced by the people.
“Yesterday, I met with the Union Home Minister to discuss our demands for Rajouri-Poonch, particularly in the area of tourism. Despite its beauty similar to that of Kashmir, the region sees hardly any tourists – domestic or foreign. No one visits our ‘seven lake wonderland’, and we want to transform it into a prominent tourist destination,” he said.
Criticising Kashmir-based parties for allegedly exploiting regional sentiments, Ali blamed them for the narrative of fear propagated over the decades and advocated for closer integration with Delhi’s power centre to accelerate development initiatives.
“For over 70 years, we were told that if Muslims wanted to survive in Jammu, they had to vote for the National Conference. The leaders misled us by instilling fear among the people with this narrative. But why should we distance ourselves from Delhi? If Delhi is the power centre, why should we stay away from it? I joined the BJP to bring my region onto the path of development,” he said.
Responding to criticisms of BJP as a “Hindu party”, Ali said, “Our decision to join the BJP does not alter our faith. The party has delivered tangible improvements in peace and development across the region.”
While thanking the BJP senior leadership for the warm response, Zulfkar said that he has joined the party with the motto of the welfare of the ST community and the progress of the Rajouri-Poonch area. He lamented that this area is more beautiful than most of similar places in the world, but was consistently ignored by the previous governments.
“Earlier, a person from a village could not afford kidney failure treatment due to lack of funds, but thanks to the Golden Card by Modi, no one is now afraid of costly treatment. Earlier, under Indira Awas Yojana, a meager sum was released for just 2 houses in a village, but now almost all the needy in a village are getting handsome assistance under PM Awas Yojana”, said Choudhary.
“They prevent us from joining the BJP and criticize us on joining the BJP on the religious lines”, he said and attacked the Congress for practicing double standards on religious grounds.
Ali, who is an advocate, won from the Darhal Assembly constituency of the Rajouri district in the 2008 and 2014 Assembly elections on a PDP ticket. He served as a Cabinet minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government from 2015 to 2018.
J&K BJP General Secretary Adv Vibodh Gupta, former Minister Er Abdul Ghani Kohli, former MP Talib Hussain Choudhary, DDC Iqbal Malik, District President Dinesh Sharma, and ST Morcha President Roshan Choudhary, who were also present on the occasion, welcomed Chowdhry Zulfkar Ali into the party fold.
The coalition government collapsed in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the government. Many PDP leaders led by former minister Altaf Bukhari subsequently founded the Apni Party in 2020 and Ali was one of its founding members.
The Election Commission on Friday announced Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1 and said the counting of votes would take place on October 4.
