STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: All India Congress General Secretary and former Union Minister Ambika Soni on Sunday lashed out at BJP and demanded judicial probe into the lathicharge on outstation students of NIT Srinagar.
“We condemn lathicharge on students and it is unfortunate,” Soni told reporters at the sidelines of a day-long Congress workers meeting in Jammu.
She said BJP, which used to condemn PDP on several issues, has finally joined hands with them.
“We demand judicial probe into the matter and the truth should be exposed before the whole world,” she said, while criticizing the lathicharge on students carrying the tri-colour amid ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ chants.
AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni said that BJP Government at centre has indulged in worst kind of anti-democratic campaign of destabilizing and dismissing the duly elected Congress Government in the States, after the BJP realised that it cannot achieve its dream project of ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ through elections.
Addressing the meeting of PCC executive of Jammu province and Mahila Congress Committee Convention in Jammu, Ambika charged BJP President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using anti-democratic tactics in bringing down opposition Governments citing the instances of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which according to her was murder of democracy.
The AICC General Secretary questioned the BJP and PDP that what transpired between two parties for three months after the demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, which led to change of their hearts without anything new in the public domain. She questioned BJP as to what happened to their slogan of preventing PDP (Baap-Beti) party from coming to power, which exposed the political opportunism and its lust for power.
Responding to question on NIT Srinagar, Ambika endorsed the demand of the State unit for judicial enquiry, as she said that an impartial enquiry into the incident including the use of brutal force would bring out the truth and instill sense of confidence.
Reiterating the commitment of the Congress party to have adequate share of women in every sphere of life, she said that it was Congress which formulated policies in the country for their upliftment and to ensure them participation right from Panchayats to Parliament and the party would continue to strive in this direction.
She expressed concern over the continued incidents of violence against women in various parts of the country and said that more effective steps are needed to check such incidents and ensure safety and security of women.
Earlier PCC Chief G.A Mir accused BJP and Modi of deceiving people. “They assured to bring black money and transfer Rs. 15 lakh to the account of the people but instead those who looted the tax payers’ money were facilitated and allowed to flee from country”, he alleged. He also referred about the ration situation in the State which has forced people especially women to come on roads on daily basis. “The price index in two years has touched a new height which has made living of common man difficult”, he added.
Two minutes silence was also observed to pray for peace to those killed in Kerala temple tragedy.
Earlier, State Mahila President Indu Pawar Ex-MLA welcomed the AICC General Secretary in the largely attended convention at Sunny Farms Hall, Jammu. Sham Lal Sharma, Rigzin Jora, Raman Bhalla, Ravinder Sharma, Namrta Sharma, Rajnish Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Zahida Khan (Former Director School Education ), Rajni Bala, Parveen Sarwar Khan, Anuradha Andotra, Santosh Sharma, Vandana Makhnotra, Suman Choudhay, Reeta Kumari, Prabha Slathia, Geeta Dogra, Sushma Choudhary besides all State Office Bearers and District Presidents and Block Presidents of Mahila Congress were present.
Meanwhile, the State executive committee of JKPCC Jammu province was held today in which Ambika Soni General secretary AICC and incharge Jammu and Kashmir affairs was chief guest while President PCC G. A. Mir presided over the meeting .
The meeting was attended by all prominent leaders of the party including PCC functionaries, legislators (MLAs/MLCs), districts Presidents, leaders of frontal Organization like Youth Congress, Seva Dal, INTUC Mahila Congress and NSUI, Contesting candidates, Former Minister and Ex MLAs/MLCs
Addressing the meeting, Ambika Soni said that Congress would remain steadfast on its principles of secularism, socialism and democracy and asked party men to strongly fight against the divisive and communal forces in the country and the State, as Congress has a vital responsibility to strengthen the bonds of unity and brotherhood in view of numerous diversities in this country and State of Jammu and Kashmir. She said that BJP indulged in all kind of rhetorics and falsehood to exploit the sentiments of the people in name of religion and regions but miserably failed to deliver after coming to power at the centre. She said that realising that the dream of prime Minister Narindra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah to have a Congress Mukt Bharat can’t be achieved through elections, it indulged in destabilizing of the Congress ruled States and imposed president rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand against all democratic norms . She said that congress Party and its leadership would not be cowed down by all sorts of tactics being adopted by the Modi Government and the party would emerge stronger in all parts of the country.
She appreciated the efforts of the State unit in galvanizing the party in the State, after it lost election however , she said party lost only five seats as compared to its last tally mainly because of acute polarization and exploitation due to emotional slogans by the BJP which left the society polarized and divided on regional and religious lines.
Soni said that there is no demoralization in the party cadres in the State, as they see bright future for the party in the state and the country. Rather the party cadres of ruling coalition parties are demoralized a lot for a reason of total surrender of their respective ideologies and slogans by the two parties for the sake of power which has made the two parties unpopular amongst the people.
She said that the UPA Government extended all out liberal financial assistance to the State for its overall development and Congress has lot to its credit in the State, which people are aware. Asserting that the future of the party is very bright, Ambika said that she can say this based on her long experience with the politics of this State especially as incharge general secretary during 2002 election when the congress came to power on equal basis and G.N. Azad became Chief Minister of the State as per power sharing formula. She questioned the power sharing of two ideologically opposite forces BJP-PDP coming together without any common meeting point except power. “The three months long stalemate after sad demise of Mufti sahib itself explains the comfort level of the two partners and now they have to explain this to the people”. she added
Earlier PCC President G.A. Mir welcomed the AICC general secretary in the meeting and explained the prevailing political scenario in the state and the organizational activities to strengthen the party at grass root level. He said that the party unit and network from lowest level to the top is being strengthened as per desire and direction of Congress President and Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
Mir said that two Parties (BJP and PDP) stand fully exposed when they joined after pitting their respective voters against each other on the promise of stopping each other from coming to power. BJP sought votes to checkmate. Baap-Beti party (PDP) and so did PDP did in Kashmir using all kinds of emotional slogans. Now people question them for their unholy alliance as they feel betrayed. The three months political drama after the sad demise of Mufti Sahib , has further exposed the two parties and people realize they have been hoodwinked and befooled, as both parties have surrendered their ideologies and slogans.
Senior leaders Sham Lal Sharma senior Vice president, CLP leader Rigzin Jora, Ex Dy. CM Tara Chand, Ex MP Madan Lal Sharma, Leader Upper House Jugal Kishore, Dy. Chairman Jahangir Mir , Mula Ram , Raman Bhalla MLAs Asgar Karbalai, Vikar Rasool, General Secretary Manjit Singh and Namrata Sharma spoke on the resolution presented by Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma highlighted the overall political scenario and the issues of different section of the society.
The State Executive of JKPCC also adopted a condolence resolution expressing deep shock over the tragedy in a temple in Kerala on Sunday. In a resolution the meeting expressed deep shock and anguish over the loss of precious lives in the tragedy and conveyed heartfelt condolences and sympathies for the bereaved families.
In the political resolution adopted in the meeting the party pledged to fight the communal and divisive forces in the State and to redouble its efforts to play the vital role as unifying force being a secular force to maintain and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, unity and integrity of the State. The distinct identities and regional urges and aspirations would be adequately respected and represented in the spirit of unity in diversity, for the balanced and equitable development of all parts of the state.
The party expressed strong criticism of the PDP-BJP for the present mess and derailment of Public Distribution system due to hasty and faulty implementation of food security act, without taking adequate measures to meet the short falls. The party demands that old scales of ration be maintained for all categories of people including Kashmiri migrants and Atta instead of Wheat be provided without delay.
The meeting also criticized the approach of the Government towards the various categories of employees especially ReTs , daily wagers, head based, contractual, Adhoc and CP workers etc in the different departments and demanded resolution of their genuine demands in a shortest possible time. The resolution also criticized the Modi Government. for its failure to fulfill the promises with the refugees and DPS of 1947, 1965, and 1971 and Kashmir migrants. The party demanded sanctioning of full package recommended for DPs by the previous NC-Congress Government providing Rs 25 lakh to each family and concession/reservation to their wards fulfilling commitment made to them and Kashmiri migrants.
The meeting also criticized the flip -flop policy of the Modi Government. towards Pakistan and said that people of the State are worst sufferers of the hostile relations of Pakistan and demanded a more mature and consistent policy based on past experience with Pakistan besides keeping close vigil on the increased activities of China in our territory across the LOC.
The resolution expressed gratitude to the Congress high command especially vice president Rahul Gandhi for the struggle of the Congress party in-corporation of the provisions of 73rd amendment in the State and demanded holding of early election to the ULBs and panchayats as per schedule to setup fully empowered Panchayati Raj in the State . The party also expressed concern over the failure of center and State Government to adequately compensate and rehabilitate the flood victims and the farmers in the State and demanded that Government fulfill their responsibilities towards them.
The party also expressed deep concern over the ever increasing un employment in the State and demanded the center and state Govt. take effective measure to meet this challenge.
The meeting also expressed strong reaction over the incident at NIT Srinagar and condemned the brutal use of force on the student and reiterated its demand for a judicial enquire and punishment to those guilty.
Others who attended include G.M. Saroori, Ch. Aiyaz Khan, Kanta Bhan, Rajnish Sharma, Abdul Majid Wani, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma.
Shabir Ahmed Khan, R.S. Chib, Th. Hari Singh, Gurmukh Singh Thakur Manmohan Singh, Shah Mohammad Choudhary, Thakur Balwan Singh, Shah Nanawaz Choudhary ,Vikram Malhotra, Namrta Sharma, Faqir Nath, Yogesh Sawhney, Arvinder Singh Micky, Swaran Lata, Prakash Sharma, Th Shiv Dev Singh, Girdhari Lal Chalotra, Ashok Sharma, Y.B. Sharma, M.A. Goni, Th. Maheshwar Singh, Darshan Raina, Khushal Bali, Mehrajuddin Zarga, Iqbal Malik, Subash Bhagat, Krishan Chander Bhagat, Amolak Singh, M.K. Bhardwaj, Kuldeep Raj Verma, Ch. Mohd. Akram, Sham Lal Bhagat, Pranav Shagotra, Balwinder Singh Sambyal, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Neeraj Kundan, Hira Lal Pandita, S. Gurdarshan Singh, K.K. Pangotra, Chaman Jain, Hari Singh Chib, Murtaza Khan, Vinod Khajuria, Anil Chopra, Sain Abdul Rashid, Ashok Gupta, Arun Singh Raju, Zahida Khan , P. Namgiyal, Ab. Ghani Choudhary, Gh. Raza ,. Rajni Bala , Shashi Sharma, Pawan Raina, Manjeet Singh Jatt, Narinder Sharma, Neeraj Gupta, Surinder Gupta, Nadim Sharief Niaz and Mohammad Shafiq Mir.
