Jammu: Cautioning people against attempts being made by reactionary forces to polarize society on communal lines in a bid to win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Provincial President National Conference Jammu Devender Singh Rana on Monday expressed anguish over religion being used as a tool to wrest the power.
According to a statement issued to KNS, Rana while addressing a series of public meetings at Jagdambey, Mohalla Slathia, Mohalla Bnathia, Kuppar Pargalta in Nagrota Assembly Constituency said: “The BJP has already started playing communal card and whipping up passions to woo the voters.”
The Provincial President said the BJP had made its intentions known well while anointing Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidates knowing full well his role in Gujarat riots. “This was a sort of provocation to secular and peace loving people across the country”, he said adding that they will not succeed in their machinations. He said the people of the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular have negated communal politics, as it is alien to their pluralistic ethos.
Rana accused BJP of playing shrewd politics by having a secret understanding with PDP to cut the secular votes. This is a strategy drawn over the months, which is being put into practice subtly and clandestinely. “However, the people are politically sagacious enough to draw distinction between right and the wrong”, he added.
He hit out at BJP and PDP for pursuing anti-people agenda and vitiating the atmosphere by resorting to falsehood and deceit. “While PDP is missing no opportunity to exploit the woes of the people, BJP is displayed rabid communal politics to provoke a major segment of secular population”, he maintained.
The Provincial President said that National Conference, as custodian of the larger interest of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will stand like a rock and foil the nefarious designs of communal and disruptive elements. He urged the workers to play their crucial role, as they have been doing to keep the light of secularism aloft at all costs.
Rana also referred to the development of Nagrota constituency and said that Omar Abdullah led government has dispelled the feeling of neglect by providing equal opportunities of progress and development. “This process is to be given further momentum”, he said while urging the people to strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister. He referred to various path breaking initiatives taken for speeding up development, enforcing accountability, ensuring transparency and making the wheels of administration move as per the aspirations of the people. He also referred to the creation of new administrative units, saying these will go a long way in meeting the administrative and developmental needs of the people.
Present during the workers meetings included Rameshwar Dutt, Som Nath Khajuria, Ch Rehmat Ali, Girdhari Lal, Din Mohammad, Kaushal, Mohinder, Kuldeep and others. (KNS)