Communal overtones of PAGD leadership bad omen for democracy in J&K: Rana

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU Apr 29: Assailing the rants of holding dialogue with Pakistan, Senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana today asked the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration leadership to restrain from overstepping into a domain which is purely a central subject.
Reacting to the ‘unsolicited and uncalled for advice’ of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti over the need for India-Pakistan talks for restoring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, he said talks and terror cannot go together.
“How can our country engage in a dialogue with a rogue country”, Rana said while referring to the admission of the former Chief Minister herself that Pakistan was a failed country, responsible for sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir. The PAGD leaders must shun double standards and call spade a spade, whether in the government or outside it. He took strong exception to Ms Mufti’s assertion about the Kashmir issue being on the agenda of the United Nations.
Devender Rana regretted the desperate attempts of the PAGD leadership to indulge in soft separatism and behave like a fringe to promote communalism. Linking basic utilities like power and drinking water with imaginary fear of a particular community being targeted deliberately is all time low and unhealthy for democratic evolution in this part of the country. It is all the more sad when those having held constitutional positions play to galleries to create a narrative, impregnated with communal overtones, he added.
He asked the PAGD leadership to have some sort of introspection and strive for fulfilling the aspirations of the people, who feel betrayed and let down during decades long misgovernance by their chosen representatives. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are not going to buy their motivated apprehensions, as they know such gimmicks are part of carving out a lost space in the political spectrum and to be relevant in Kashmir politics, he said.
He said the Centre’s zero tolerance for terrorism has yielded discernible results with Pak sponsored terrorists finding their space shrinking due to pro-active approach of the valiant security forces and the police,. This has apparently unnerved vested interests who have based their politics on dead bodies. The people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Valley, feel elated over the fast improving situation with stone pelting and bandhs becoming the nightmare of the past. The economic activities have gained momentum and tourism is picking up much to the delight of the people in general and those engaged with tourism trade in particular, he maintained.
“If all this is not visible to the peace breakers then they are betraying their tall claims of having connect with the people”, Mr Rana said, adding that the normalised Kashmir is a source of discomfort for them. He said the people are deeply yearning for an end to the alien gun culture in Jammu and Kashmir, as it has cast huge devastation and held the peace loving citizens to ransom. The people of this part of the country too have the right to progress and prosper, which cannot be denied to them, as per the whims and fantasies of some political actors, who want to keep their enterprise of exploitation thriving at the cost of their miseries.