Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Mar, 10
Residents of Gangyal today organized Hawan Yagya at Shiv Temple to pray for the departed souls of slain CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the cowardly Pulwama Terror attack. On this occasion Sadhu Samaz besides prominent persons from religious and social organizations were present in good number. Langar was also organized to mark the occasion. Former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla also graced the occasion and prayed for peace to the souls of martyrs.Prominent among those present on the occasion include PCC member Satish Sharma, Corporator Pritam Singh, Krishan Sharma, Sudagarmal Bittu, Pirkho Mandir Math Mahant Shri Ravi Dass ji, Luder Mani, Vijay Singh Chib, Vijay sharma Babhi, Sunita Sharma, and residents of Gangyal.While remembering the great sacrifice of the martyrs, Bhalla appealed the conscience of the countrymen in general and people of Jammu in particular not to forget huge sacrifice of the bravehearts. He highlighted the need of remaining all time vigilant to frustrate the evil designs of the enemy within.He said “we should remain united and counter any threat from enemy. People of Jammu always maintained communal harmony.He expressed heartiest condolences to all bereaved families of martyrs and said that time has come to give Pakistan a befitting reply besides wiping out terrorism permanently from Indian soil.
Bhalla appealed to the government to take necessary actions on all fronts so that such incidents do not occur in future and terrorism is curbed with the iron hands. He urged people to follow Gandhi’s ideology and guard the country’s freedom and democracy. He stressed on the need for national unity and bringing all religions together like Gandhi stood for communal harmony and religious tolerance. “Gandhi’s life is a lesson for us to follow. Bhalla reiterated the need to confront the politics of hatred and vengeance being practiced and promulgated by political parties upholding the values of love, peaceful coexistence and justice between followers of different religious faiths in the country. We should counter the move to frighten the public by adopting an intelligent and rightful approach. We should not put our heads under the feet of others. Pakistan should not be given any more chances to make cowardly attacks and the government should ensure that the lives of the innocent soldiers should not go in vain,” said Bhalla.
At a time when the State is witnessing violence, Bhalla has urged people to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood transcending religious, linguistic and regional diversities. He said that societies that have shared bonds of unity have always enjoyed peace, stability, prosperity and permanence.”Ours is a nation of unity in diversity and India stands as a perfect example of unity of cultures, religions, languages, regions, festivals, costumes, outlook and colour,” Bhalla said, adding that the citizens of the country have been able to preserve this unity against all odds.Bhalla strongly maintained that there is hardly any other country in the world than India which has a great diversity of culture, religion, language, tradition, community etc.
People live and think in terms of their respective religions, faiths and tongues, and seek to serve their selfish ends without thinking of the national good. Such thinking is dangerous and is bound to lead to the disintegration of the country in the long run. The need of the hour, therefore, is to fight the forces of dis-unity and dis-harmony and to work ceaselessly for the achievement of national harmony and peace. Learning to live in peace and harmony is a dynamic, holistic and lifelong process through which mutual respect, understanding, caring and sharing, compassion, social responsibility, solidarity, and tolerance of diversity among individuals and groups (ethnic, social, cultural, religious, national & regional) are internalized and practiced together to solve problems and to work towards a just and free, peaceful and democratic society, he added. Let us all be proud of our beloved nation. We all have to collectively strive to make India vibrant, strong and supreme. However, is it necessary to talk about nation-building in this age of liberalization and globalization? Without harmony among the different sections of society, neither knowledge proceeds further nor the economic prosperity, Bhalla added.
Bhalla said Congress Party has shown a tremendous commitment for maintaining social harmony, providing equal opportunity to every citizen and bringing dalits, the downtrodden and the exploited into the mainstream. This commitment proved not only a milestone but has been established also as a social value in Indian society. Other political parties who oppose the Congress are trying to usurp the credit of the policies and politics of the Congress that proved instrumental in bringing about social changes and eradicating social inequalities. These political parties usually talk about dalits and the downtrodden merely as a fashion whereas their real aim to fulfil their political dreams. But the truth is that the Congress Party’s real aim from its inception till today is to establish a strong democracy and to provide equal opportunity to every citizen. The contribution of the Congress Party with regard to bringing the marginalised into the mainstream is exceptional. Right from its formation, the Congress Party has tried to eradicate the contradictions within Indian society. As a result, Indian democracy and its tolerant approach and mutual disposition are admired all over the world ,he added.
Indian National Congress showed its commitment towards social, economic and political changes. It went into constant churning and taking shape of an organisation which seeks fundamental changes based on social and economic equality of the highest level and social justice. Bhalla expressed grave concern over the lackadaisical approach of the previous government of PDP/BJP in addressing the issues pertaining to the weaker sections of the society. He said economic emancipation and political empowerment of weaker sections was imperative for harmonious growth of the society. He assailed the previous coalition government for failing on all fronts and pushing the state to unprecedented governance inertia, as a result of which developmental activities have come to grinding halt. Bhalla said that emotive, divisive, communal and regional politics played by erstwhile PDP/BJP coalition government has hurt the consciousness of the people, who have been pushed to the worst kind of split.There is a need to bridge the gap which alone can be done by Congress, which believes in unity, integrity and prosperity of all the three regions of the state.
