Srinagar, Aug 21: Girdhari Lal Raina, former Member of Legislative Council (MLC) and spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu & Kashmir, has strongly criticised the National Conference (NC) for its proposal to rename the Shankaracharya and Hari Parbat hillocks in Srinagar in its manifesto for the 2024 assembly elections.
Raina in a statement termed the move as “atrocious” and accused NC of double standards. “While the party criticises the restoration of historic names in other parts of India, it seeks to alter the names of these revered sites in Kashmir,” he said. “History cannot be erased or altered by changing the names of such significant places.”
He condemned NC’s “tactics of playing emotional cards” during election time and accused the party of harbouring hatred for academics and historical facts.
The BJP spokesperson slammed the NC’s “past actions against” the displaced Hindu community, specifically the Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to flee the valley. “The NC ignored the community’s martyrs even in its 1996 condolence resolution in the state legislature,” he said.
Raina also expressed concern over the NC’s proposal to review the reservation policy in its manifesto. “The party has been historically opposed to the rights of deprived and underprivileged sections of society,” he said and questioned whether the NC intends to strip reservation rights from Scheduled Castes (SC), people living along the International Border (IB), Pahari communities and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The BJP spokesperson urged all sections of Jammu & Kashmir’s citizens to “recognise the true nature” of the NC and reject the party in the upcoming assembly elections.
