Shadow Correspondent
billawar, Apr, 16
Finance Minister Punjab Govt Manpreet Singh Badal, Cabinet Minister Punjab Govt Vijay Singla on Tuesday sought votes for Congress candidate from Udhampur-Doda constituency Vikramaditya Singh at Barnoti today. Prominent among those present on the occasion include Dr Karan Singh, Vikramaditya Singh, Raman Bhalla, Surjeet singh slathia, Dr Manhor Lal Sharma, Subash Gupta, Sarpanchs Panchs Corporators, workers, supporters in large number. Addressing a public gathering , Badal mocked the Bharatiya Janata Party’s `Main Bhi Chowkidar’ election campaign as a ridiculous `jumla’, which will not solve any real problems of the people of India. “Such slogans do not help fill the stomachs of our poor people, they do not give jobs to our youth,” Badal said .The `jumla’ party failed to deliver on any promise all these years, and was now resorting to more `jumlebaazi’ in a desperate bid to win votes, said the Minister, adding that the people of India were fed up with these hollow slogans and promises. They wanted to know what the BJP led government had done for them in the last five years, he added. It was the duty of the government in power to retaliate after the Pulwama attacks and even the Congress would have done the same had it been in power, he added. Pointing out that the defence serves were apolitical in nature, which made them the real `chowkidars’ of India, the Chief Minister lashed out at the BJP for seeking to politicize the forces. The Congress never did that, and no political party worth its name would indulge in such pettiness, he added. After 2019 elections BJP will not find any corner to hide in, he added. Badal promised the people that all their woes would be addressed in the Congress manifesto, which has been prepared with inputs being taken from all sections of country’s populace.
Vijay Singla asserted that the Congress wants all mainstream parties in the state to thrive and will not play any role in breaking other political parties, especially regional parties, by poaching their leaders. Our national leaders have formed alliance with regional and national secular parties. We had appealed to a few parties; some of them are on board, while some are indirectly in touch with us. We are prepared for the elections. People have closely followed the policy decisions of BJP. J&K has became a victim of their harmful policies. The people are looking forward to a Congress government under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.Our poll planks for the elections will be development, employment and to bring back peace, which was derailed after the BJP took rein.
It is the poor policies of the BJP that have caused the situation to escalate to this level. Terming the promises made by BJP government as “mere bluffs”, Singla said that voters are fed up with the “sheer opportunism. Appealing people from different walks of life particularly youth to become part of the party, Singla said Congress offers a platform for all well meaning peoples to encourage them and play their role in party’s vision of political resolution and good governance. He said Congress by way of its pro-people policies is the only viable alternative for the people of the state. He said NDA government has failed to do anything good for the people of state except strengthening the instrument of oppression to unleash terror on them. He regretted that the delivery on the promises during their tenure had been in opposite proportion to the expression of such high pitched slogans with not a single promise having been cashed in, added Singla .
Dr Karan Singh in his address said that “Congress party is committed to resolve the issues confronting people and to fight against discrimination against people. It would continue to remain steadfast in serving the people. He described previous BJP Government in Jammu and Kashmir as an abject failure, saying the coalition was plagued by distractions that slowed down the process of development and left the governance in paralytic mode. He said, adding that the slogan of development was just a façade, as the major concern of the insensitive alliance was how to remain glued to power. He particularly referred to the disillusionment of the people in Jammu and said the self-centric BJP has betrayed their mandate and had nothing to claim except delivering broken promises. Vikramaditya Singh in his address said BJP scripted a very sad saga of reversing the process of development and pushing the state to backwards. He said the exploitative politics may create euphoria for some time but ultimately the people want better services and their developmental needs fulfilled. These are the areas where the government found itself hugely wanting, he observed. While Jammu region as a whole suffered unexampled bias in multifarious fields after the formation of the coalition, the unemployed Jammu youth continue to bear the severest brunt of the most discriminatory agenda of the BJP rule in the form of their near obliteration in various selection lists issued during their tenure. Singh regretted that contrary to people’s expectations, the BJP leaders surrendered even the marginal share of Jammu region in recruitments so as to keep their alliance partner in good humour and thereby keep their role of junior partner in the government intact. He blamed BJP for leaving people in the lurch midway after promising them stars and sky resulting in political inconsistency, deceit and betrayal to the people. He said wrong policies of the BJP brought Jammu and Kashmir at the cross roads of the history.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said, “Inhuman atmosphere generated and mistrust created by bringing the people and the regions eyeball to eyeball situation over various sensitive issues”.
“We decry the politics of hate and divide”, he said while cautioning the people against divisive politics being played by them which has already alienated Kashmir from the mainstream. Bhalla claimed that BJP coalition only added to the woes of common man, BJP in particular in Jammu region as it was involved in every anti-Jammu decisions by Govt. “ BJP acted as dummy coalition partner in the Government as discrimination with Jammu province was being done at all ground either in recruitment, allotment of funds, development in tourist sector or overall development process,” he said and added that Congress is real representative of Jammu province that people have realized now.Bhalla blamed BJP for exploiting people by playing with their emotions on good governance drama staged by them. He claimed that both the parties have lost the ground miserably. He said that Congress Party stands guarantee to the equitable development of all the three regions and the people. It will continue to serve the people to the best of its ability. He, while speaking on the occasion, said that there was complete chaos prevailing in the state due to misrule by the coalition government in the state, which disturbed the socio political scenario of the state to a great extent, he said.
