STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Terming as extremely unfortunate the decision of the BJP to continue its alliance with the pro-self-rule and essentially Valley-centric PDP, Prof Hari Om, former political advisor to J&K BJP president, on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah to ensure that Jammu also led the state for at least three years and obtained equal share with Kashmir in the Council of Ministers and all powerful State cabinet as part and parcel of state polity.
“The BJP+ and the PDP have equal number of legislators in the Legislative Assembly. The people of Jammu had voted for the BJP in large numbers hoping that the party, if came into power, will redress their grievances and compensate for the political and economic losses they suffered at the hands of Kashmiri leadership during all these years of the state’s accession with India,” said Prof Hari Om, adding that the agenda of alliance on the basis of which the PDP-BJP coalition government was formed last March was highly invidious, humiliating and unjustifiable as it had rendered the people of the region unreal and ineffective for all practical purposes. It was unfortunate that the BJP refused to appreciate the Jammu mandate and surrendered everything to Kashmir much to the chagrin of its core constituency, he said.
Now that the BJP has again decided to join the state government with the same PDP, it is appropriate time for it to rectify its past mistakes and ensure that Jammu gets what it legitimately deserves in the state’s political and economic processes, he further said, adding that it is the natural and fundamental right of the people of Jammu province to have equal share with Kashmir in the Council of Ministers and the State Cabinet.
“Jammu deserves half of the portfolios. Jammu also deserves half of the portfolios with political weight, considerable funds and patronage. It just cannot be treated shabbily like it was treated in March by the BJP,” Prof Hari Om said. He added that it would be a crime again the people of Jammu region if the BJP again ignored their socio-economic and political urges.
Prof Hari Om said the nation would appreciate the BJP if it decides to sever all ties with the PDP and sits in the opposition.
“J&K is not a normal state. It is a separatist and militant infested state. It needs an effective opposition to controvert the pernicious influence of pro-self-rule, pro-autonomy and pro-independence forces in the Valley. The PDP, the NC and the Congress cannot play that role, as they subscribe to and advocate the same perverted ideology. Only the BJP can play that role and defend and promote further the paramount national interest in the state and empower the neglected Jammu and Ladakh regions and fight for the interest of the minorities. The BJP would gain massively not only in Jammu and Ladakh but across the nation if it decides to sit in the opposition,” Prof Hari Om further said, adding the Prime Minister and BJP national president will surely appreciate the nature of Kashmiri leadership and its ideology and direct the state unit of the BJP to play the role it used to play before joining the state government.
Prof Hari Om further said that J&K is not a state like Himachal Pradesh where elections are fought on democratic and economic issues and issues of governance. J&K is a state where the Kashmir-based and Kashmir-centric parties contest elections on divisive planks and that’s the reason the people of Jammu region discarded the PDP, the NC and the Congress and voted overwhelmingly for the BJP in 2014, he said, adding that the situation as it prevails in the state today warrants a radical change in the attitude of the BJP high command.
“Nothing would be more appropriate then that the BJP should sit in the opposition so that it could take care of the national interest in J&K,” he said.
The other option for the BJP is to get an equal share with the PDP in the governance of the state so that it controls some very crucial departments which deal with the internal security-related matters.
