NPP protests against down- grading of J&K State as UT

Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 19: NPP workers today reached New Delhi and held a massive demonstration at Jantar-Mantar to lodge their protest against the raw deal meted out to Jammu region in the recently passed J&K Re-organization Bill and its declaration as UT.
The agitated protestors led by Harsh Dev Singh, party chairman and Yashpal Kundal State president Young Panthers sought review of the said decision of the Union which had sparked outrage in Jammu region. They raised slogans against BJP Govt for subverting the democratic rights of opposition in the state and denying the constitutional guarantees assured to them under the Constitution.
Addressing newspersons, Harsh Dev said that while abrogation of Art 370 was a welcome move, the downgrading of around 200 years old Dogra State had dampened the morale as well as excitement of the people of Jammu region. He lamented that the BJP led Govt at the Centre had caused the greatest embitterment in the hearts and minds of the people of Dogra land by denigrating their status of statehood to a Union Territory. He said that it was the only Dogra state in the country which was conceptualized and created by Dogra rulers and extended with countless sacrifices made by Dogra warriors.
Seeking a separate state for Jammu region, Singh cautioned the Union Govt to stop taking the people of the region for granted. He regretted that not a word was uttered by the mandated leaders of Jammu in the Parliament to safeguard or protect the interests of Jammu region and no objection whatsoever was raised when Jammu was again proposed to be appended to Kashmir and announced as a UT through the Re-organization Bill.
Harsh Dev regretted that Kashmir continued to receive focussed attention of all Central Govts, the nationalist people of Jammu region were forced to reconcile to their second class status. While Kashmir continues to have a loins share in development projects, employment and allied sectors, the Dogras were made to come on the roads even for getting their genuine demands fulfilled.

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