One year of Art 370 repeal: BJP planning ‘Ek Bharat, Ek Atma Bharat’ campaign

New Delhi: With just days ahead of the first anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, which the BJP has planned to celebrate across India with much fanfare, its national president J P Nadda on Saturday held a video conference with the office bearers of Jammu and Kashmir party unit, where the matter continues to be sensitive for many residents, particularly in the Valley.

The meeting was attended by senior leaders such as Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, J&K BJP Chief Ravinder Raina apart from office bearers like Dr Darakhshan Andrabi, Rafiq Wani, Sofi Yousuf among others.

The BJP has devised a ‘One India Campaign’ or ‘Ek Bharat, Ek Atma Bharat’. Nadda has personally taken an interest in ensuring that the message reaches out to every booth and to the mandal level.

The J&K BJP unit has decided on a 15-day campaign to tell people how August 5 should be celebrated each year “as the brightest date of their lives”. Plans include holding virtual meetings, publishing handouts and distributing them, with the idea being to tell people that all strata of society, including Gorkhas, Dalits among others, will get their rights after several decades.

On August 5 in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the tri-colour will be hoisted at every panchayat and the national anthem will be sung between 9am and 11am. Earthen lamps will be lit in the evening in every house.

“The wall of alienation that gave way to separatism and terrorism has now been abolished,” state BJP President Ravinder Raina told CNN-News18. “This has now given rise to nationalism and our dream of a unified India has been fulfilled. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. All attempts to break it have been abolished.”

The BJP has decided that to mark August 5, when it will be one year of abrogation of contentious Articles 370 and 35A, one national leader each will be present in Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh on that day. They will take part in an event in the three cities of the erstwhile state of J&K, which will be replicated in the two union territories down to the mandal level.

Meanwhile, like other states, BJP leadership in J&K too have been asked to connect with at least 50 social workers in every district of India and articulate the initiatives and government projects sanctioned for the twin UTs — Ladakh and J&K. Booklets for that purpose are also being published which will be handed over to them.

Nadda also paid homage to party workers who were killed in the recent past for their association with the saffron party in the Valley. Recently, a young BJP leader from Bandipora Waseem Bari was assassinated along with his brother and father.