Shadow Correspondent
Jammu,June 21:
Hundreds of Panthers activists led by Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and former minister held a demonstration here on Thursday seeking the dissolution of J&K Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. The protesters raised slogans against the BJP led Central Govt and torched its effigy. They were addressed by senior leaders of the Party.
Describing the present political situation in the state as ripe for dissolution of Assembly, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said that with almost all political parties having shown their reluctance to form the government and already having conveyed their stand in media, it was BJP alone which had made a statement through its Ex Dy. CM Kavinder Gupta that they were “working on something”. Describing the statement of Kavinder Gupta as disturbing, Singh said that it had created apprehensions in political circles of possible attempts of horse trading, allurements and corrupt practices by the BJP. Reckoning that something nefarious was cooking up which would further malign the sanctity of the democracy and the constitutional propriety, Mr. Singh warned that any further mis-adventures by the BJP would cost the party heavily. He held the Central government responsible for deliberately forcing the J&K Assembly to remain under suspended animation unconstitutionally and made a strong point that ‘political coercion’ could in no way prevail over the mandate of the Constitution. He urged upon the Hon’ble Governor to recommend the dissolution of the State’s Assembly without any further delay and maintained that the prevalent political situation in the State warrants holding of fresh elections so that the people could once again elect a popular government as per their will and without any fear.
He further said that with the stand of different political parties being clear, there was no justification to keep the Assembly in suspended animation. There was no reason therefore to continue with the stalemate and called for a firm decision by the governor in conformity with the Parliamentary precedents and in accordance with mandate of constitution. He said that suspended Assembly could not be continued only for the reason that the BJP was making vague incongruous statements. He said that if no plausible combination of political parties or alliance was coming forth to claim the formation of the govt., the only alternative left with the governor was to recommend the dissolution of the Assembly so as to pave way for fresh elections. He said that it was highly illogical to delay the dissolution of Assembly only at the behest of BJP, a party which still had not lost its appetite for opportunist politics. He said that Governor must take note of the public discomfiture at democracy being held hostage to the political fortunes of BJP which was desperately making vain attempts to remain in driver’s seat by hook or crook.
Harsh also said that it was utterly amusing to note the BJP leaders twisting and turning in their desperation to remain glued to power. Harshdev said that by its highly profligate and reprobate conduct, the BJP had betrayed not only the legacy of Dr. Mukherjee and Vivekanand but also proved beyond doubt that lust knows no bars, no red lines. He regretted that BJP’s ambitions had dented Jammu pride and lit fires that would take months and years to subside. While urging upon the Governor to uphold the democratic aspirations of the people of the state, he called for dissolution of the Assembly to be followed by fresh elections.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Gagan Partap Singh, Shanker Singh Chib, Nirmal Kishore, Rajesh Gondhi, Neeraj Gupta, Capt. Narotam Singh, Ravinder Jamwal, Partap Singh, Rashpaul Singh, Rohit Sharma, Joginder Singh, Sansar Chand, Ashok Chouhan, Jeevan Sharma besides others.
