Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 14: Flaying the opportunistic politics over Kashmir by some of the so-called mainstream political parties, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today, it is for the Congress party to explain to the people of India how it is tacitly supporting the separatist or the semi-separatist elements in Jammu & Kashmir, even though it was the Congress-led Government at the Centre which had, in 1994, brought in the Parliament a unanimously passed resolution stating that if at all there is any issue related to Jammu & Kashmir, it is only that of how to retrieve the part of the State which continues to remain under illegal occupation of Pakistan. On the other hand,he said,some of the Kashmir-centric political parties swear by India when in power but when thrown out of power, they begin to speak like separatists out of sheer desperation and therefore they hardly deserve to be taken seriously.
Dr Jitendra Singh was speaking to a delegation of “Seema Jagran Manch”, led by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Nitin Kohli, who met him today to discuss the prevailing political situation in Kashmir, particularly in the wake of the controversy raked up by certain elements in the name of tricolor, Vande Mataram and the status of Jammu & Kashmir vis-à-vis the Indian union.
Dr Jitendra Singh assured the members of delegation that there is no change in the stand of the Government of India or even the BJP as far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned. He said, Jammu & Kashmir is as much a State of the Indian union as any other State and therefore, there is nothing to debate about it.
Dismissing the controversy over Vande Mataram as needless and avoidable, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is wrong to associate Vande Mataram with any particular religion or sect. Vande Mataram, he said, is a national song which has represented the nationalistic ethos of India for the last one-and-a-half century ever since it was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1870’s. While in the pre-independence India it was the marching song for freedom fighters, in the immediate post-independence India, it was the inspiring song for the building of “New India”.
As for tricolor or Tiranga, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is sacrosanct to every Indian and it is on the soil of Jammu & Kashmir that Shyama Prasad Mookerjee laid down his life for the cause of tricolor. Therefore, he said, not only tricolor and Jammu & Kashmir are inseparable, but it will always continue to fly high with the same majesty as ever before.
Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the commendable work being done by “Seema Jagran Manch” for the people living in the border areas. He said, very soon, a sustained campaign will be launched along the border areas with the involvement of “Seema Jagran Manch” and its other nationalist affiliates.
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