Jammu, Aug 04: Describing August 5 as a watershed moment in the turbulent history of Jammu and Kashmir, senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana on Friday said the people, especially those marginalized, neglected and dejected, are feeling a sense of fulfillment while entering into the fifth year of their “real independence” from the “shackles of exploitation and discrimination by a set of a political class that treated the erstwhile state as their fiefdom”.
“The eve of the abrogation of Article 370 stands shining testimony of transformed Jammu and Kashmir with development taking centre stage and people enjoying equal opportunities of progress irrespective of region, religion, caste or ethnicity,” Rana said while interacting with the deputations, delegations and individuals along with Veenu Khanna, BJP State Secretary, during the weekly public hearing at the BJP headquarters here.
He said the Union Territory has been witnessing the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a progressive and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir being translated on ground zero with a sense of commitment. “The BJP has made possible what everybody perceived impossible years ago and emerged as a harbinger of change in the Union Territory. Each sector and every segment is enjoying the dividends of peace, heralded by the government in the past four years by dispensing responsive administration and isolating inimical elements in the separatist amalgam as also those within the so-called mainstream, in the true spirit of Modi’s cherished agenda of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’,” he added.
The BJP leader said the biggest take of the Article 370 repeal has been political empowerment of every region and sub-region besides real empowerment of the people like West Pakistan Refugees, Valmikies, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections of the society, who were deprived in the wake of non-implementation of a number of Central laws. “They had been deliberately kept out of the system to enjoy political hegemony by exploiting regional and religious sentiments as per their political convenience,” he said.
He referred to the overall situation across the Union Territory with special reference to the Kashmir Valley, saying that even the worst critics of the BJP are acknowledging the huge turnaround in terms of peace and normalcy. While stone pelting and shutdown culture is now the history of the past, tourism and economic activity is scaling new heights. Last year witnessed a record number of tourist arrivals which is expected to cross the two crore mark this year. Taking out of the Muharrum procession after 34 years with the head of the Union Territory joining it in the downtown city, as also Shri Amarnathji Yatra surpassing last year’s record during half of the two-month pilgrimage is the best example of normalcy dawning in the Valley.
