Addressing the rallies at Hiranagar and Kathua Ashok Khajuria while highlighted the significance of the forthcoming assembly elections, he said it is time for the people to get united and stand solidly behind the BJP, which identified itself with the peoples sentiments during the Shri Amarnath land restoration movement and worked day and night to make the movement a grand success.
BJP Presdient said the people of Jammu province have been facing grass discrimination at all levels and in every sphere at the hands of the Kashmiri rulers and the people of Jammu have to discord all these parties, which also outraged the sentiments of the Nationalist people of Jammu by snatching from the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board piece of land at Baltal and by vitiating the Amarnath Yatra. He told the audience at both these places that the people of Jammu province have been denied their legitimate due share in the service sector, and in agriculture, sericulture, tourism, power generation, roads, health-care sectors and said all the Kashmir based parties, including Congress, NC and PDP are responsible for the miserable plight of the people of Jammu. He said while the rate of unemployment in Jammu province is over 69 per cent, in Kashmir it is less than 30 per cent, and added this shows the extent to which the people of Jammu have been ignored. He also informed the people that while casual labourers working with the PHE department under community development programme are getting Rs. 500/- per labourer in Jammu province, their counterparts in Kashmir are getting Rs. 2100/- per month.
Addressing the rallies,Former union home minister Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta said that the time has come for a change in the state’s unitary politico-constitution structure that gives political powers to the people of Jammu so that they could manage their administrative, financial and developmental matters. He said the BJP has decided to launch a movement in order to obtain for the people of Jammu, and adequately empowered provincial council and to make the state government provide development funds on provincial basis. He also said that the BJP believes that bifurcation of all the Directorates and Corporations has become absolutely necessary in order to ensure that Jammu also have all Directorates and Corporations.
Senior leader of BJP Dr. Nirmal Singh lambasted the Kashmiri Rulers for denying the people of Jammu province their legitimately due share of representation in the legislative assembly by manipulating excessive and disproportionate representation for Kashmir. He accused the authorities in the state of fudging the census figures in order to enable Kashmir to manipulate more seats in the assembly. He said the people of Jammu deserve a minimum of 46 seats in the 87 members assembly as their number is more and as they occupy area almost double that of Kashmir. He reminded the people that it was the Congress-led government which in 2006 wanted to further harm Jammu by increasing the number of assembly seats from the existing 46 to 58 and Jammu’s from 37 to 46, thus further increasing the difference from existing 9 to 12 seats. He also took to task all the Kashmir based parties for opposing the constitution of a New Delimitation Commission.
Dr. Nirmal Singh asked the people to keep in their mind the injustices which have been perpetrated on the people of Jammu and extent their full support to the BJP, which is committed to getting the grievances of the people of Jammu province redressed.
Daya Krishan Kotwal, Th. Ranjit Singh, Prof. Sain Dass, Brigadier Karan Singh Kotwal, Ashwani Sharma, Rashpal Verma, Daleep Gupta, Ghandarb Singh, Ramesh Gupta, Mohan Lal, Rajiv Jasrotia, Bhanu Pratap,Naveen Padha, Kuldeep Kumar, Ch. Shyam Lal, Janak Bharti, Durga Dass were prominent among those who also addressed these rallies.