Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, May 14: Exuding confidence that BJP led Government is fully capable to deal with any situation related to terrorism or separatism, Union Minister in PMO with independent charge of North Eastern States, Dr Jitendra Singh today said India’s prestige has increased manifold all over the globe since Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister last year.
Talking to reporters at the sidelights during the launch of Party’s “Samparak Abhiyan’’ here, he said “the BJP led Government is capable of dealing with any situation whether it is related to terrorism or separatism. This is the reason why the entire world looks up to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi with esteem wherever he goes,”.
In response to a question regarding the steps taken by the Prime Minister towards improving ties with Pakistan, Dr Jitendra said, “Prime Minister has done what no other Government has been able to do. During the oath taking ceremony, all the heads of SAARC nations reached New Delhi, including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Such an initiative has never been taken in the history of independent India”, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that joining coalition in the State does not mean the Party has detracted from its agenda but formation of Government was must to respect people’s mandate for good governance. “We joined the coalition for the larger interests of the people who voted for us, to discharge our responsibility and to show better performance’’, he added.
He said being in the Government was in the interests of people of Jammu which gave massive mandate to the Party. “We will watch that the interests of Jammu are not harmed and it is our duty to work for the people of the region but at the same time we should not favour any discrimination with any region but to give equal treatment to all regions. “The Party can ‘t get away from the fact that it owes a commitment to Jammu region which has been its stronghold and also closely linked to the birth of Jan Sangh’’, he added.
On the interests of minorities, Singh said formation of the coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir showed that country’s minority-dominated States are feeling safe with the BJP. “All the minority-dominated States and even in North East including Nagaland, there is Government which is supported by BJP,” he said.
Asking Partymen there is no harm in talking about the interests of Jammu people, he said, at the same time there should be no discrimination between Jammu and Kashmir whether it is the issue of establishing of AIIMS or any other thing as a precedence was set by previous rulers.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, whatever be the issue whether it is AIIMS or IIT or Central University, the message should not go that Jammu is being treated like a lesser sibling and therefore, our motive is “justice to all, appeasement to none’’.
Dr Jitendra asserted that “total Vikas’’ is the Mantra of Modi Government and Partymen should take this message to every where.
Maintaining that the Party is above all, he said any leader how powerful he may be is zero without the support of Sangthan and the Partymen should bear this thing in mind.
He said that the decision on resumption of cricket ties between India and Pakistan “will depend on the situation.”
“I would not like to go into that but one thing which matters is that the position is taken depending on the situation,” he told reporters when asked about the resumption of cricket between the two countries.
Highlighting the one year achievements of BJP led Government, he praised Prime Minister for getting featured thrice in Time magazine in a short span of time.
“Can you believe that Time Magazine had Modi ji on its cover not once or twice but thrice in just one year and the latest issue described Modi as a global political hero,” he said.
The Union Minister noted that this was a compliment not given by BJP workers but by those quarters that are always hesitant to praise India. “It has come from those who are always skeptical of India’s performance, but are now coming forward to praise India,” he added.
He said many initiatives were taken during last one year of Modi Government for the upliftment and betterment of the masses which included Jan Dhan Yojna, social security schemes etc. “If you see in brief, in the past one year, the achievements of the Narendra Modi Government have been far greater than the Governments of the past 60-65 years,” he added.
He asked Partymen to apprise the people of the various public welfare projects launched by the BJP Government at Centre. While dismissing that the Party has detracted from its principles which were dear to founder president of Jana Sangh Dr Shyama Prasad Mukerjee and the veteran BJP leader Deen Dayal Upadhyay, he said these principles are BJP’s strength and party will stick to them always.
Responding to another question about an article published in a Chinese Newspaper, Dr Jitendra Singh said India was capable of deciding its own agenda. He totally rejected the article in a Chinese newspaper that suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to visit Arunachal Pradesh and Indian Government to stop supporting the Dalai Lama.
“India is capable of deciding its own agenda and therefore I don’t think these things are to be taken seriously and they won’t make any differences,”.
When asked whether Modi’s ongoing visit to China would help strengthen bilateral ties, Singh said, “We have come to a stage where the entire world cannot help but recognize India’s might and capabilities and also the imposing influence of Prime Minister Modi.”
He said the world has recognised India as the global power of tomorrow.
“The time has come when any other country of the world would like to have good relations with India because India is now the global power of tomorrow,” he said.
Speaking of its relations with neighbours, Singh said India has always been forthcoming in not only having good relations with all the neighbouring countries but has come forward to their rescue in their hour of crisis.
“The most striking example is the recent earthquake in Nepal,” he added.
He said the help offered by India to Nepal during quake was unprecedented.
Claiming that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi India’s image has improved at the global platform, he said, “In the field of science and technology, scientists from abroad are coming to India to learn from our experience.”
On the “suit-boot ki sarkar” jibe of Congress to attack the Modi Government, the Union Minister said, “It is a good thing for the Indian democracy as ‘suit-boot’ is not limited to a few families anymore.”
Replying to a question on the Centre deciding to continue with the controversial aptitude test in the civil services preliminary examination and also setting 33 per cent minimum qualifying marks, he said suggestions like these were coming in for a long time and there were complaints that the exam pattern only catered to handful of students.
“It was being said that students from Maths stream or the engineering stream had the advantage. Any other Government did not take cognizance of it. “We will reconstitute syllabus and form a Committee’’.
“Until we don’t get the recommendations of the Committee we will make the C-SAT paper qualifying so that everyone has a level playing field. We will suggest that it is done at an earliest,” he said.
Addressing the function BJP State chief and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma said India is today in news all over Globe as BJP has emerged world’s largest political Party with 10 crore members. In J&K the Party has also achieved a membership target of six lakh, he added.
The function was attended by BJP district Jammu president and MLA Rajesh Gupta, Minister of State for Education and Culture Priya Sethi, BJP organizing general secretary Ashok Koul, Party senior leader and MLC Ashok Khajuria, Party MP, Shamsher Singh Manhas, MLA Jammu West Sat Sharma (CA), senior leader and Kissan Morcha president and president Samparak Abhiyan, Karan Singh, Seh Pramukh of the Abhiyan Er, Ghulam Ali Khatana, MLC Ramesh Arora, Col Uttam Singh, Subash Jandial and others. The stage was managed by Vikram Randhawa.
Dr Singh, earlier, made a round of Medical College Jammu where the Latti bus accident victims have been admitted for treatment. The Minister also examined some of these patients and issued instructions to Medical College authorities to take extra care of these patients for their speedy recovery.
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