BJP stood for cause of Jammu, Dogras: Dr Jitendra

Jammu, Apr 22: Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh Monday claimed that BJP was the only political party which “consistently stood for the cause of Jammu and the Dogras.”

Addressing a mega road show at City Chowk here in support of his party colleague and BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma for the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, Dr Jitendra said, “BJP and the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh have been vociferously advocating the cause of Jammu and Dogras right from the times of Prem Nath Dogra, the founder of the Praja Parishad and former national president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

“Bharatiya Jan Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party espoused the cause of Jammu and Dogras even at times when the Congress and its allies, including the National Conference, were continuously discriminating against this region and afflicting all kinds of hardship and injustice on Dogras and the people of Jammu region,” he alleged.

Taking a dig at opposition leaders, Dr Jitendra said, “Those who now claim to be the protagonists of Jammu and the Dogras are the leaders, who had been for over half a century, dancing to the tune of their masters who discriminated against Jammu and Dogras because of their vote bank politics. At that time, none of these leaders dared to raise their voice in support of Jammu or the Dogras. But the moment these same leaders found themselves out of job or out of power, they suddenly took up the cause of Jammu and the Dogras to seek the lost political space for themselves and to keep themselves relevant by playing with the sentiments of the local people.”

He claimed, “If Prem Nath Dogra had even slightly dithered from his crusade, he could have easily become a minister or part of the then government headed by Sheikh Abdullah or Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, but he stood his ground, unlike these so-called protagonists who have suddenly emerged as the sympathisers of Jammu and the Dogras after having enjoyed the power for years together and inflicted all kinds of injustice on this region.”

The Union Minister alleged that those of the opposition leaders who were seeking votes in the name of Jammu were the ones who had discriminated against the Jammu youth in jobs and also in admission to higher educational institutions. “Those who are today raising the cause of Dogras are the ones responsible for having cancelled the Dogra certificate thus depriving the youth of this region of recruitment in armed forces and they also denied 4 percent reservation to the youth residing on the International Border (IB),” he said.

Dr Jitendra said, “It is a foregone conclusion that Narendra Modi will be sworn as Prime Minister for the third term in the month of June with 400 plus. The responsibility now for us is to try to vote to the maximum so that when PM Modi forms the next government with 400 plus, the count should also include the Jammu constituency which has traditionally been a stronghold of Bharatiya Jan Sangh and later that of Bharatiya Janata Party.”

He claimed that the vote this time was “not simply a political vote but a vote of reverence and respect for Prime Minister Modi who rolled out a series of people-centric, particularly women-centric, welfare schemes with a great deal of sensitivity and without any bias or discrimination.”