Says BJP nowhere near to Cong in nationalism
Nishikant Khajuria
UDHAMPUR, Apr 1: Former Sadr-e-Riyasat and veteran Congress leader Dr Karan Singh today vouched for `empowered’ Regional Councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to permanently end discrimination with any province in the State.
“We took several initiatives for ending discrimination with Jammu, but a lot more is still required to be done and we favour formation of empowered Regional Councils for Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir so that each region may get its due share,” he said while talking to media persons on sidelines of an election rally, here today, in support of his son Vikramaditya Singh, who is contesting from Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary seat as the Congress candidate.
The scion of erstwhile Royal Dogra family, who remained Union Minister for two times, claimed that he had been taking up the issue of discrimination for the last 60 years and writing on the same since he was Sadr-e-Riyasat. “To end the discrimination, we formed Sikri Commission, Gajender Gadkar Commission etc but a lot more is still required to be done,” he said and added, “after Congress comes to power, we will have a manifesto to ensure that all three regions; Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh get their due rights and there may be no regional discrimination.”
Earlier, while addressing the election rally, Dr Karan Singh lambasted the ruling BJP and said that saffron party had to go a long way to match the Congress’ nationalistic credentials, credibility and achievements.
“When it comes to nationalism, we in Congress under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, not only created history, but geography as well, when we broke Pakistan into two pieces and created a new country”, he said.
Referring to the Pulwama and Balakote events, he pointed out that all the parties had fully supported Indian Air Force in their precision strikes and the BJP was unethically trying to take credit for the achievements of our armed forces.
Ridiculing the BJP for questioning the patriotism of the Congress and accusing it of being soft on Pakistan, he reminded that it was the Congress Government led by Mrs Gandhi in 1971, when he was in Indira’s Cabinet, that launched a major operation to support the freedom movement in East Pakistan. “As a result of our strike not only was history created but also geography was created and a new nation of Bangladesh was born,” he added.
Referring to the Udhampur Parliamentary constituency, Dr Singh emotionally recalled that the voters of this constituency had elected him to Parliament on four successive occasions 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1980 in very difficult political situations. He said that his political career had begun from Udhampur as a result of which he spent eighteen years in the Lok Sabha including 10 years as a Cabinet Minister.
He made a fervent appeal to voters of the constituency to extend their full support to his elder son Vikramaditya Singh who is standing for Parliament on a Congress ticket. Dr Singh assured that he would surely serve the people with full devotion and try his best to improve the life of lakhs of people who inhabit the six districts of Doda, Ramban, Udhampur, Reasi, Kishtwar and Kathua.
He stressed the importance of the Udhampur Devika project which has been pending for many years, and assured that when elected, Vikramaditya would ensure that this holy project is completed within the time period of his first term.
Later, Dr Karan Singh also held meetings in Tikri, Udhampur and Ramnagar.
Among those who were present on the occasion, include Brij Mohan Sharma, Ashwani Khajuria, Krishan Bhagat, Faqir Nath, Sumit Mangotra, Vijay Manhas, Shakil Shah and Priti Khajuria and NC leaders Sunil Verma and District president, Raj Kapoor.
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