Monitor News Bureau
Srinagar, Aug 29: Seeking expeditious identification of fake state subject holders in Jammu and Kashmir, Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Wednesday lambasted the previous PDP-BJP government for sitting over the issue and compromising with the rights, dignity and identity of the people.
“The erstwhile coalition had a definite and sinister design to trample the special status of the state, which is why forces inimical to the Maharaja Hari Singh’s vision and legacy of permanent resident laws were let loose and encouraged to challenge Article 35A, the Provincial President said while addressing workers at Patnitop in Udhampur on Wednesday.
Rana referred to the misinformation campaign unleashed by the BJP about Article 35A, saying this proviso is, in fact, guarantee to the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in general and the permanent residents of Jammu in particular. He decried BJP’s attempts to create hysteria over the issue and dared the party to carry out a referendum across Jammu to find out the will of the people in this regard.
Rana said that the BJP’s consistent tirade against Article 35A raises apprehensions about clandestine deal reached with some illegal non-state subjects, who want to strengthen their hegemony in Jammu.
The Provincial President said that overt and covert attempts of repealing Article 35A has put the state at cross roads of history and cautioned that tampering with this proviso is economically detrimental for the people of Jammu in particular, as youth will be deprived of jobs and the local business community will suffer due to influx of big business houses and traders from outside the state.
“Generating hysteria is a ploy of the BJP to hide its three-years of failure on all fronts and to push the state to political instability”, he added.
Rana took the BJP head on for depriving the erstwhile Doda district of development, saying the three years of its mis-rule with the PDP has pushed the entire region to backwardness with projects initiated by Omar Abdullah led government either getting abandoned or facing implementation hiccups.
Senior National Conference leader and former MP, Sheikh Abdul Rehman questioned the voices in favour of abrogation of Article 35A and wondered why these are silent over unique status being enjoyed by Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Goa etc as per various sub sections (A to G) of Article 371.
