Fayaz Bukhari/ Avtar Bhat
SRINAGAR, Oct 28: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National general secretary Ram Madhav today said that the Interlocutor appointed by Government has the mandate to talk to all the groups and leaders who want to talk without any conditions.
Madhav said that the Interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, will talk to all those groups who want to talk and appointing him is the “continuity of the dialogue” which was carried out by the Home Minister Rajnath Singh. “Whosoever will come forward, he (Sharma) can talk to him. There is no condition”, he said.
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“Home Minister, Rajnath Singh during his visits had said that dialogue will be held with all those who want to talk. And the announcement of Dineshwar Sharma is continuity of that process as the Home Minister cannot himself visit again and again,” the BJP leader said.
Madhav arrived here this afternoon to preside over the State level Working Committee meeting which will be held on Sunday at SKICC where delegates from the State and party legislators will be participating.
Madhav said that the Interlocutor appointed by the GoI will talk to all groups and leaders of Jammu and Kashmir as a representative of Government of India.
Asked whether Sharma will talk to Hurriyat, Madhav said: “This question should be asked to Hurriyat whether they are ready or not to talk”.
Asked whether talks will be held with Pakistan as were held during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s tenure, the BJP leader said: “This time, the announcement has been made that Dineshwar Sharma would talk with all groups in J & K.
Madhav said that BJP wants that “whole population of Jammu and Kashmir becomes mainstream”.
On autonomy suggestion by -Congress leader P C Chidam-baram, the BJP leader said that people of the country and Kashmir are bearing the brunt of the mistakes of Congress party. “The Kashmiri people and whole country are bearing brunt of the mistakes that were committed by Chidambaram and his party during their Government. We don’t need this (autonomy) advice. The present Government would seek advice from well wishers of J&K and would act definitely in future and is doing. We don’t need advice from Chidambaram”.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, and senior leader of BJP, said that the Hurriyat Conference is a stakeholder in talks and that the Government has never prevented anyone from holding dialogue.
Singh made these remarks here on the sidelines of the BJP meeting. He said that Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to Hurriyat last year when Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh came here and invited them to talks.
“If we were not ready to talk to them, such a letter would not have gone out. They also shut their doors to the Parliamentary delegation. But, we believe this is a good opportunity and everyone should come forward for the peace and prosperity of J&K and for the future of its youth,” the Deputy CM said.
When asked whether Government would send a formal invitation to separatist leaders for talks, Singh said that Dineshwar Sharma, who has been appointed an Interlocutor, has been fully empowered to talk to anyone and he will decide it all. “The State Government has no role in it,” he said. He, however, said that all coalition partners have appreciated the appointment of Interlocutor.
“We want the dialogue to start soon and everyone should come forward and place their point of view,” Deputy CM said.
Singh ruled out talks with militants. “Whoever carries a gun in his hand, it is no use to talk to him. Otherwise, the Interlocutor is free to talk to everyone,” he added.
Earlier, BJP State general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul said that the Working Committee will discuss strengthening the party base in the Valley.
He said that Ministers, legislators and all the office bearers of the party in the State will take part in the meeting.
Koul said that 300 delegates will attend the Working Committee Meeting.
During the BJP office bearers meeting held later the political resolution to be adopted in tomorrow’s Working Committee was discussed threadbare. The meeting besides Ram Madhav was also attended by Party national vice president and Prabhari J&K, Avinash Rai Khanna, State president, Sat Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, MPs Jugal Kishore Sharma and Shamsher Singh Manhas, general secretary, (Org) Ashok Koul, former president and MLC, Ashok Khajuria, general secretaries, Dr Narinder Singh and Pawan Khajuria, vice presidents Yudhvir Sethi and Moti Koul and secretary, Sanjay Baru.
The party later held a close door Core Group meeting in which the strategy for tomorrow’s historic Working Committee which is being held for the first time in Kashmir since the formation of BJP was also discussed. All the members of the Core Group including Deputy CM, Dr Nirmal Singh, Health and Medical Education Minister, Bali Bhagat were present in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Ram Madhav and Avinash Rai Khanna.
In the political resolution to be adopted tomorrow, the BJP besides, demanding constitution of Commission for Delimitation of Assembly Constituencies and rotation of reserved Assembly segments will also stress on abolishing of Toll Tax at Lakhanpur, early deportation of Rohingyas and all other illegal immigrants from the State, particularly Jammu region who are a serious threat to national security.
The political resolution while strongly condemning the braid chopping incidents will make an appeal to all victims to cooperate with the police in solving the mystery. The resolution will also stress on reviewing of the State holidays in view of the sentiments of the people of the all three regions.
For protecting and fostering ethnic and religious diversity the resolution will stress on return of Kashmiri migrants with dignity based on their rights as State subjects and reintegrating as well as absorbing them in the Kashmir Milieu. Besides, it will press for the grant of permanent citizenship rights to West Pakistan refugees as the only solution to their problem.
The resolution may also stress on issuance of Dogra certificates, making the working of PSC as transparent, early conduct of Panchayat and local bodies’ elections, empowerment of LAHDC Leh and Kargil and early establishment of Railway Division in Jammu etc.
Addressing the meeting, Avinash Rai Khanna said that BJP has emerged as party to reckon with in Kashmir as well as Ladakh regions also and its mass base has expanded in all the three regions of the State. He asked the Partymen to work hard to ensure that the BJP emerges victorious in all three regions of the State in next elections.
He also urged the partymen to take public welfare schemes and humanitarian ideology to common masses of Kashmir.
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