Udhampur, June 19: National Panthers Party president and former minister Harsh Dev Singh on Monday said the BJP regime by downgrading the erstwhile State of J&K and subjecting it to its “proxy rule” for the last five years, has caused the “greatest embitterment” in the hearts and minds of the people.
Addressing public meetings in villages of Battal and Thalora in Udhampur East constituency, Singh said, “With the erstwhile historical state of J&K having been dismantled and downgraded to UT level by divesting it of its statehood status and further, depriving it of the much-trumpeted development packages, opening the lands and Jobs of its locals to outsiders, suppressing all critical voices through the coercive apparatus of the government, demolishing institutions, besides running the affairs of state since June 2018 through a proxy, evicting the poor people from their marginal land holdings, the BJP regime appeared to be testing the patience of the people of the erstwhile princely State.”
“The people were being harassed, intimidated and persecuted on one pretext or the other with the latest move of the government to retrieve the lands from poor and indigent farmers and impose property tax having created massive resentment amongst the urban as well as rural people. New laws were being enacted for J&K on a regular basis by ‘babus’ in the Centre and implemented in J&K without any legislative nod through the aegis of Home Ministry by taking recourse to J&K Reorganization Act,” he said.
The NPP president said the government was thriving on “fake announcements and fictional accounts” of its achievements with nothing tangible to be seen on the ground. “People suffered the worst nightmares due to the power and water crisis. The government failed to act. The people of remote areas continue to suffer ration problems with no takers for their repeated requests and reminders,” he said.
“The corruption has become all pervasive with none to question those indulging in open loot and plunder of the state’s resources. And those who have the temerity to question are dubbed as anti-nationals. But despite all this, the government was indulging in incessant chest thumping and claiming to have brought about revolutionary changes. And dissent was being muzzled through the coercive apparatus of the state,” he said.
Harsh Dev urged the people to support NPP “so as to replace the highly impudent and authoritarian BJP” in the UT of J&K.
