JAMMU: Congress has decried attempts by the ruling BJP to divert the attention of the voters from the real issues of its utter failures on various fronts and broken promises of providing employment, safeguarding rights to jobs and land to the locals and restoration of statehood, depriving youth, students and business community of 4G services and anti-farmers & anti-people decisions and anti youth decisions of toll plazas and disbanding self help groups of engineers. Addressing press conference here, JK PCC chief spokesperson along with former minister and PCC vice president, Raman Bhalla launched a frontal attack on the BJP for running away from basic issues of the people and betrayal of mandate of Jammu, by emotional blackmailing on issues of Gupkar and Pakistan instead of discussing failures of providing 50,000 jobs in three months in August 2019, depriving youth and businessmen of 4G services for over one year and 4 months, safeguarding rights to lands and jobs for locals and restoration of statehood. “Instead BJP top leaders are indulging in vilification campaign against opponents ignoring the fundamental fact that participation of all mainstream forces is a direct answer to Pakistan and the culture of gun, inspite of their dissenting views on the decisions and the policies of BJP. Such utterances of the top ruling party leaders are highly irresponsible and creates hatred and disunity in the society,” they said. Challenging BJP to seek votes on its performance and arbitrary decisions in J&K especially its delivery on various promises to the electorates in Jammu region, senior Congress leaders said that people would not get hoodwinked by the false and fake promises and lollypops of the ruling party regarding jobs security and land protection. The BJP Govt opened doors of employment for outsiders and put the land of J&K on sale, while the bonafide occupants and farmers since decades of small portions of state lands would be deprived against the rights vested in them by existing laws, to the benefit of outsiders and others. The lakhs of people in villages who are in use and occupation of small portions of state land including landless people are being harassed unnecessarily, while the state laws earlier provided ownership rights after 60 year of continuous possession whereas the present central law extended to J&K provides vesting of ownership after 30 year but those eligible under such provisions too, would be deprived of their rights by the ongoing drive, just because they were given rights under a legislation in due process of law. Those who have availed any undue benefit should be booked under law irrespective of positions or political affiliations, they added. Senior Congress leaders questioned BJP for its continued alliance with parties of Gupkar declaration in the Kargil Hill Council and said that BJP leaders are emotionally exploiting voters in Jammu for electoral gains by raking up such issues against then present allies in Kargil, which speaks of the BJP’s politics of deception and falsehood. They appealed the people to reject the parties and candidates who are out to divide the voters to the advantage of BJP and regretted that certain those parties who are opposing the policies of BJP, in public, are also intentionally or unintentionally helping BJP by fielding candidates who cannot win but weaken the secular parties and their candidates.
