‘Only centre can ensure Statehood restoration’
Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that in no case will the National Conference (NC) and the Congress form the government in J&K after the election.
“I am a student of election analysis and my projections have mostly proved right. I am here to assure you that these people are spreading rumours that the new J&K government will be formed by them. Let me categorically assure you that Farooq Abdullah’s NC and the Congress won’t be in a position to form the new government in J&K,” said the Home Minister while addressing the party workers in Jammu.
He added that if the BJP workers meeting is so large, how large would the BJP public rally be? “I am elated beyond words to see such a large number of workers gathered here today from only 13 assembly constituencies,” the Home Minister said.
He also introduced BJP Assembly candidates present with him on the stage. He told party workers that they have not to only ensure the victory of the party candidates but have to ensure that the opponents forfeit their security deposit during elections.
He said he is beginning his address to party workers by saluting the sacrifice Syama Prasad Mookerjee made for the integration of Kashmir with the country.
“I salute Pandit Prem Nath Dogra who started the agitation under the banner of the Praja Parishad against two prime ministers, two flags and two constitutions in one country.
He said that the upcoming Assembly election is a historic election as for the first time, voters will vote under one Tricolour and Constitution and not under two flags or two Constitutions.
“There is just one Prime Minister in the country, who is elected by people from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari and that is Narendra Modiji. This election is being held away from the shadow of Article 370. In the Lok Sabha elections 58.46 per cent of voters turned out to celebrate the victory of democracy,” the Home Minister said.
He said that the BJP will fight this election with a full heart and will win it, adding, that the party workers are the biggest strength of the BJP as they exist at the polling booth level.
“For 70 years, you fought and cried and agitated. But today you don’t have to ask or agitate. Modiji gives you what is in your heart. This year, 5.12 lakh Yatris performed the Amarnath Yatra fearlessly. Those days others would decide who forms the government here. Now people of Jammu will decide who governs them,” he said.
He said that the workers should educate voters about the disruptive agenda of NC and Congress. “I don’t trust media more than I trust my workers.”
He said that Congress and NC want a separate flag, want Article 370 to come, and want to take away reservations of Gujjars, Bakerwals, Paharis and others.
“I want to make it clear to Rahul Gandhi that, however, hard he might try, we will not allow anybody to touch the reservations,” he said.
He added that after 70 years mothers and daughters have got rights that the NC and Congress had taken away, adding, that they want stone pelters to be released from jails so that the Jammu region including Kathua, Poonch, Doda, Rajouri, Reasi, Udhampur and Ramban is engulfed in terrorism.
He said that those who gave money to terrorism were sent to jail by PM Modi, adding, that NC and PDP want LoC trade to re-start so that its profits go to terrorism.
“They want us to talk to Pakistan. I say again that there will be no talks with Pakistan unless peace returns completely to J&K. They want to rename our sacred Shankaracharya hillock as ‘Takht-e-Suleman’. Will you allow that?” he asked.
He added that there was more corruption in J&K than in the rest of the country in the past as the three “corrupt” families of Gandhis, Abdullahs and Muftis looted the state.
“They want the old system to return so that Jammu suffers injustice,” the Home Minister said
He said when there would be peace in J&K, such people would become chief ministers and during violence they would run away to Delhi and enjoy coffee in cafés there.
“They would shut eyes to terrorism and would thereby help terrorism. If they come back, terrorism will also come back. If BJP comes to power there would be no terrorism,” he said.
The Home Minister said that Maharaja Hari Singh never returned to J&K after 1947.
“His ashes were only brought here. We ensured that his respect and honour were redeemed. We declared his birthday as a holiday in J&K,” he said.
The Union Home Minister also spoke of the developments made here during the last 20 years and also repeated the poll promises made in the BJP manifesto.
Home Minister Amit Shah dismissed the opposition’s attempt to revive the autonomy plank during the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls and asked the NC-Congress alliance to stop fooling people by promising statehood as only the Centre can restore the status.
Shah assured people about the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood after the assembly election, which he said is the first under the national flag and the Constitution following the abrogation of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi government.
At a BJP workers’ rally at Ploura in the Jammu North assembly segment, told them that “Jammu would decide the formation of government” and the National Conference-Congress alliance would “never be able to form a government”.
Accusing the Congress-National Conference alliance of attempting to revive the “old system” and pushing Jammu and Kashmir into the fire of terrorism and corruption again, Shah said, “The time when someone else was deciding whose government will be formed (in J&K) has gone. Now Jammu will decide the formation of government.”
The NC and Congress, however, claimed the BJP was attempting to sow confusion and fear among the electorate as it was in a state of panic since the two parties announced a seat-sharing arrangement and asserted that the 10-year BJP rule in the country was a “disappointment”.
Shah was in Jammu on a two-day visit to boost the BJP’s election campaign for the assembly polls, voting for which is scheduled on September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will be held on October 8.
He released the party’s manifesto on his first day of visit on Friday and also chaired meetings with senior leaders to discuss the campaign strategy.
“The upcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir are historic because, after Independence, the polls are happening for the first time under our national flag and Constitution, unlike the past practice of two flags and two constitutions. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, we have only one prime minister and he is Modi,” Shah told the rally before leaving for Delhi.
NC, Cong will not form Govt in J&K: Amit Shah
