41-year-old Ravinder Raina, the newly appointed president of J&K BJP, in his first visit to the valley, stayed away from controversial topics that have recently gripped the state.
Raina is an aggressive voice of the BJP in the State. Young and full of aggression, and a hardcore Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh man, the RSS has seen great promise in him as he has taken an extreme position on most of the issues. But on his first visit to Kashmir he was a mellowed man.
Raina, who was accorded warm reception at the BJP’s office here at uptown Jawaharnagar spoke about bringing peace in the Valley. He steered clear of the Kathua rape and murder case, saying the matter is in court. Incidentally, Raina was one of the BJP legislators who had sought for a CBI probe into the case which was rejected by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
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In his first visit as the party's state president today, Raina said he has faith in the "powerful judiciary" and that the truth will ultimately come out.
Raina’s appointment is seen as BJP’s move to regain the “lost ground” in Jammu, after the Kathua rape and murder case. Various parties in Jammu have accused the BJP of acting as B-team of the PDP during the investigation of the case by the Crime Branch.
He stressed on making Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh strong and strengthening its syncretic culture. “We will continue with these values”, he said.
Raina didn’t reject talks with Pakistan outright. He said India is democratic country and it believes in dialogue and reconciliation. He recalled former instances at reconcilation that did not end positively.
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"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took Lahore bus for the dialogue but Pakistan responded with Kargil," he said.
The BJP's state president cited talks during the time of former Pakistani President General Musharraf and the 2015 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lahore where he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. All such peace overtures of India, Raina said, were responded by Pakistan negatively and with attacks on Parliament and other places.
As the BJP’s alliance partner, Peoples Democratic Party, is calling for the unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, Raina avoided direct response on whether his party is in favour of it.
Instead he said the “bomb, gun and pistol” have destroyed Kashmir. He said India is family and all members of the family should live happily in the country.
Raina replaced Sat Sharma as the state BJP president on April 30. Sharma was inducted as Cabinet Minister in the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Raina has a few controversies to his name. In March 2015, when the PDP and BJP formed the coalition government in the State, Raina took oath in the name of ‘Mata Vaishno Devi’. Later in the same year, he along with other BJP legislators had allegedly assaulted Independent MLA Engineer Rashid inside the Assembly. They accused Rashid of hosting a “beef party” at the state MLA hostel in Srinagar.
