JAMMU: Former Union minister Anurag Thakur has said that only the BJP can establish peace and ensure development in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, a National Conference-Congress alliance government can only bring destruction and miseries for the people of J&K, Thakur said addressing a press conference in Jammu.
“In J&K BJP means ‘Rahat’ and NC-Cong means ‘Aafat’ for the people,” Thakur said. National spokesperson of BJP RP Singh, in charge of BJP Media War Room Arun Gupta, BJP Chief Spokesperson Sunil Sethi, party spokesperson Tahir Chowdhary and Pardeep Mahotra, Media Incharge, were also present on the occassion.
His party, the BJP, is a guarantee of ushering J&K to peace, prosperity and development, Thakur said. Alluding to coming together of the NC and the Congress in the past, Thakur said that whenever these two parties have come together, they have brought destruction and miseries for the people of J&K. He was obviously referring to the coming together of NC and the Congress after 2008 assembly elections as also in 1987. More than 45,000 people have lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir due to the NC and Congress, he said.
“The country suffered a lot for 70 years due to blunders committed by Nehru,” Thakur said. In contrast, the present “BJP government led Prime Minister Narendra Modi abrogated Article 370 and that brought peace and development in J&K”, he added.
The NC-Congress combine, he said, “are talking of bringing back Article 370 but I must tell them that Article 370 is history and will never ever come back”. He ruled out that these parties will ever be able to bring back this article however hard they may try.
The NC-Congress alliance wants to push J&K again towards terrorism, revive separatism and secessionism, Thakur said. “People of J&K will teach NC-Congress a lesson in these elections as they want unrest here,” he said. The coalition of NC-Congress have no valid issues for the people and now they are trying to divert people’s attention by raising non-issues, he said. “Rahul Gandhi must make his stand clear about raising issue of hanging of Afzal Guru, who attacked Parliament,” Thakur said.
It needs to be mentioned here that NC vice president Omar Abdullah had said a couple of days ago that “hanging Afzal Guru did not serve any purpose’’ and if he had it within his powers, Guru would not have been hanged. The Congress has not made its stance clear on the issue and that has not gone down well with the BJP. This statement was roundly condemned by senior BJP leaders.
Incidentally, Guru was convicted for his involvement in the Parliament attack of December 2001 after facing a legal trial. He was hanged in Tihar jail in October 2013 when a Congress-led government was there at the Centre.
The BJP government has invested over Rs 25,000 crore for development of J&K and now we have AIIMs, IIM, IIT, Nursing Colleges and large network of roads here, he said. Thakur said that NC-Congress combine is playing divisive politics. “They want to rename our revered Shankracharya as Takht-e-Suleman and Hari Parbat as Kohe Maran, which shows that NC and Congress are trying to divide people and spread hatred,” Thakur said.
There is 70 per cent decline in terror related activities due to policies of the Prime Minister Modi, he said, adding, “We freed J&K from the clutches of terrorism by abrogating Article 370,” Thakur said adding that record number of tourists have been visiting J&K since abrogation of Article 370. Thakur said that the 25 point ‘Sankalp Patra’ of the BJP is people friendly and also present a future roadmap for development of J&K, while other parties have nothing to offer to the people of J&K.
