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| Silence of Sukhnandan, Khajuria on AIIMS intriguing | | Artificial Lake Project | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 18: The cornered and condemned BJP is desperate to regain Jammu's confidence after it committed several anti-Jammu acts to make common cause with Kashmiri ruling elite. The past two days witnessed five BJP local leaders, including PHE Minister Sukhnanadan Choudhary, MLC Ashok Khajuria, in-charge BJYM Yudhvir Sethi, BJP executive committee member Chander Mohan Sharma and spokesperson Suresh Magotra taking a line which was intriguing and partly inconsistent with the line of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took on May 15.
The Chief Minister had last week in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Nirmal Singh and MoS Priya Sethi declared that the sanctioned AIIMS will be established in Kashmir and the ongoing artificial lake project in Jammu city was not viable. He had hinted that the latter could be shelved as it was technically and economically not viable. His statements and the "criminal silence" of Nirmal Singh and Priya Sethi, the so-called champions of Jammu rights, had cause a furore, with several Jammu-based organizations taking an exception to what happened in Jammu on May 15 and threatening a region-wide relentless agitation. The Bar Association Jammu declared that it would strike work in all the courts on Monday and it did happen today.
Khajuria, Yudhvir Sethi, Chander Mohan Sharma and Magotra during the past two days demanded the completion of the artificial lake project, saying it was a dream project for Jammu. The BJP is part of the government. It, instead of doing the needful as it itself was competent to do it since it held the PHE portfolio, shared its views with the media and it became an object of ridicule by doing so. It was Sukhnandan, who accidentally is the PHE Minister, held a press conference in Jammu on Sunday to tell the enraged people of Jammu province that the artificial lake project will be completed and there was no question of shelving it under any pretext whatsoever. Ironically, Chander Mohan Sharma had held a press conference a day before. He didn't threat any action in case the project was shelved; he only appealed to the Chief Minister not to shelve it. His was a weak and meek intervention. Significantly, Magotra also held press conference the same day. In other words, two BJP leaders held two press conferences on the same issue, which indicated the extent to which the BJP got rattled following the scathing attack on it from the pro-Jammu elements.
It appears these five BJP leaders and party functionaries had been directed by the party high command, which had been at the receiving end for sealing a "bad" power-sharing deal, to meet the press and issue press statements and explain the party's position. Their press briefings and press statements are unlikely to change the situation for the under-attack BJP or conciliate the cheated and humiliated people of Jammu province. In any case, what these five local BJP leaders said and did during the past two days was not only a desperate attempt on the part of the party to clear its stand on the project, which it failed to do, but also an attempt to create an impression among the Jammu people that it had not forgotten and ditched Jammu and that it would do what it could to defend the Jammu cause. It is, however, a different story that the BJP's stand on the artificial lake has not been appreciated by the PDP for obvious reasons.
However, what was intriguing was the silence of all these five BJP leaders on the bigger issue of AIIMS for which the entire Jammu province observed a complete shutdown on April 24 to register protest against the BJP. None of them referred to the AIIMS. The people of Jammu have taken note of this silence. Their silence on the issue which the people of Jammu province hold very dear was not just intriguing, but it also established that they, Nirmal Singh, party high command and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed are on the same page as far as the stand on the location of the proposed AIIMS is concerned. It bears recalling that Nirmal Singh had on April 24 declared that no body would be allowed to "snatch AIIMS from Kashmir and it will not be established in Jammu".
The people of Jammu not only want an early completion of the artificial lake project and establishment of AIIMS in Jammu. They also want parity of Jammu with Kashmir at each and every level and in all spheres, as they want to lead a dignified life. The BJP leadership cannot now befool them any longer. They have realized their mistake and they are determined to punish the BJP. They are just waiting for that opportunity. In the meantime, the BJP should get itself ready for facing the Jammu's ire. Reports clearly suggest that moves are afoot to tear into the BJP. |
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