Jammu, June 28: National Panthers Party (NPP) president and former minister Harsh Dev Singh on Wednesday said that with J&K being divested of its statehood status, the trade, employment and economy of the erstwhile “princely Dogra state” of the country had been adversely impacted.
“While the economy fast dissipated and the development scenario witnessed a downward slide, the ever-growing unemployment seemed to be the only notable feature of the saffron rule,” he said in a statement, adding, “The past few years witnessed massive public uprisings against the anti-Jammu and anti-people policies of the ruling dispensation which continued to be suppressed through the iron fist of police and civil administration.”
Singh accused the BJP of using the coercive apparatus of the state to silence all those who dare to raise their voice for justice. He sought fulfillment of promises made by the BJP during elections.
“Rather than honouring the commitments made by it during last polls, it (BJP) was trying to crush the dissenting voices by causing dissensions in and breaking the opposition parties,” he said. Singh was addressing public meetings in the Kumarli and Mantalai villages of the Chenani constituency.
Describing the BJP’s handling of dissent and disquiet as “oppressively bizarre, undemocratic and morally sinister”, the NPP president appealed to the people “not to succumb before the Machiavellian designs of the power-hungry rulers”. He assured that NPP would stand with people through thick and thin and continue to “expose and oppose” the BJP for its “political debauchery and subterfuge”.
Harsh Dev slammed the BJP for having done the “greatest disservice” to J&K, particularly the Dogras, by demoting it to the level of UT. “It has humiliated the Dogras by dismantling the oldest Dogra state. The extension of several draconian laws after the abrogation of Article 370 including the opening of lands and jobs to outsiders had in particular, come as a rude shocker for the people of J&K. The unemployed youth of Jammu region have been the most disappointed lot with their share in services have been abysmally reduced. The daily wagers, the contractuals, and the underemployed have all felt cheated in the BJP regime,” he said.
