New Delhi, June 23: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) working president Raman Bhalla on Friday met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and apprised her of the political situation in J&K. He also had a detailed discussion with Gandhi over the wide range of issues concerning people of the union territory.
Bhalla in a statement issued here said he apprised Gandhi about the political scenario and ongoing organisational activities of the party. He also discussed the feedback from the workers and people about the functioning of the present BJP government and the role being played by the Congress to represent and highlight the issues of the people of J&K.
“He (Bhalla) discussed various measures for further strengthening the party in J&K. He briefed Sonia Gandhi about the socio-political developments in Jammu and Kashmir, especially rising unemployment, lack of development and other issues of public importance. He briefed the leadership about the fallout of disconnect between the present dispensation and people in the absence of the popular government leading to restlessness among the people,” the statement said.
Mrs Gandhi asked Raman Bhalla to unitedly fight the “anti-people and anti-youth policies” of the ruling BJP and defeat their “divisive agenda” in Jammu and Kashmir, to strengthen the party and gear up their activities keeping an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections.
She asked the JKPCC leader to activate the cadres at various levels in order to highlight issues of people and expose the failures and falsehoods of BJP and the “failures” of the Central government in J&K to come up to the expectations of the people on various vital commitments. “The party should highlight the issues of people in J&K with a view to launching an offensive against the BJP for their failures on various fronts besides neglect and failures to fulfill the commitments with the people of J&K,” she said, according to the statement.
Bhalla urged the Central government to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir with job and land security for the locals. He said unemployment and inflation in J&K are “all-time high, which has pushed people towards starvation”.
“The LG administration has failed on all fronts and the BJP is insensitive towards the problems of the youth. The youth raise their voice, but the police wield the cane to silence them. The governance is confined to photo-ops and shoddy propaganda. There is no space for any voice, critical of the government’s action. Silence has been achieved on all dissent,” the Congress leader said.
