While the Mughal might be invaders for the Bharatiya Janata Party elsewhere in the country, in Kashmir they are freedom fighters. The BJP's J&K
president Ravinder Raina equated the last Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar with Ashfaqulla Khan and Bhagat Singh and called him a freedom fighter, who
sacrificed his life for the country.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party president Ravinder Raina started his speech on Saturday outside the BJP office in Jawaharnagar here, he was happy to see the crowd. With cheers from the crowd, he said this country belongs to all.
“Our mission is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas. No one is a stranger here. This India belongs to the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and this India is of the late A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as well,” Raina said. “For India’s freedom Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev and Rani of Jhansi have given sacrifices and at the same time Bahadur Shah Zafar, Ashfaqulla Khan and Maqbool Sherwani have also given sacrifices for the country. This country belongs to all, whether he is Hindu, Sikh or Muslim or Christian,” Raina said.
“Someone told me what is your mission, what do you want? I said we want every poor should be happy and everyone should get justice,” he said.
Finally, BJP Appeals To ECI To Hold Assembly Polls
Appealing people to vote for the BJP during the parliamentary polls, Raina said in the parliamentary polls that BJP should win from Kashmir. “We are being accused of running away from the Assembly elections. My friend Omar Abdullah says so. I appeal to the election commission of India (ECI) to announce assembly elections in J&K. We are ready for it. We are hopeful that the people of Kashmir will vote for the BJP,” he added.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an Assembly since November 2018 when the then legislative assembly was dissolved by then governor Satya Pal Malik after the PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti staked claim to form the government. The governor’s rule was imposed in J&K in June 2018 after the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government.
On May 6 last year, Delimitation Commission finalized its two year-long exercises recommending the creation of six additional assembly constituencies in the Jammu region and one more in the Kashmir valley. It was expected that the completion of the process of redrawing the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir would pave the way for assembly elections.
However, the ECI has not announced any date for the Assembly polls. National Conference vice-president is repeatedly holding the Election Commission of India responsible for not holding Assembly polls in J&K. He also says the BJP has a vested interest in prolonging the governor rule in J&K as it fears it will face defeat in Assembly elections in J&K.
With Raina appealing to the ECI to hold polls in J&K, he is the first BJP leader who has made such a statement. Earlier the BJP leaders would avoid any question about the Assembly polls saying it is the responsibility of the ECI to hold elections in J&K. They would also take refuge in the Panchayat elections and district development council polls saying the democracy is thriving at the grassroots level.
On March 6, this year, National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah led a delegation of all political parties to the Election Commission of India asking it that the ECI is under a constitutional obligation to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The delegation in its memorandum presented to the ECI in New Delhi said that the delay and denial of assembly elections in J&K would amount to a denial of the fundamental and democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The delegation said the assembly election would be the first and most important step towards the restoration of all the constitutional rights guaranteed in the constitution of India and the fulfilment of the political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
With Kashmiri actor Ayan Khan joining the BJP, Raina says for the past few years Kashmir has changed. As an election pitch, he talked about "development and peace in Kashmir". He said strikes and protests no longer take place in Kashmir. “We are happy that there is peace, love and happiness all around the Valley and the pace of development is unprecedented,” he says.
He said new hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) are coming up in the Awantipora area of Pulwama. “Once the railway connectivity will start it will increase the market value of Kashmiri apple as it could reach different states within no time,” he adds. He said the BJP is sure that people of Kashmir will vote the party to power to ensure development and stability in the region.
