| Congress’s ‘secular’ mask slips, Jammu’s genuine leaders ignored | | All India Congress Committee Secretary List |    |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 17: The Congress party's release of its shortlist for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary from Jammu and Kashmir has triggered fresh accusations of pseudo-secularism within its own ranks, with sources alleging that genuine, deserving leaders from the Jammu region were passed over in favour of candidates facing allegations of sex scandals and corruption.
According to highly placed sources, several dynamic and committed leaders from a particular community in Jammu were in contention for the post but were neither shortlisted nor recommended by those steering the process.
Sources further alleged that the party had initially signalled it would draw names from across all communities in Jammu and Kashmir to reinforce its secular credentials — but that this approach was quietly abandoned, with the interview process itself having wound up two days earlier.
What makes the final list more contentious, sources said, is that some of the shortlisted candidates are facing allegations of sex scandals and other scams.
Speaking to The Early Times on condition of anonymity, a senior Congress leader attributed the pattern to what he described as the party's communal politics, claiming that not a single Hindu leader from Jammu and Kashmir has won an Assembly or Lok Sabha election since 2009.
“It is a result of the communal politics of our party that not even a single Hindu leader has won Assembly or Lok Sabha elections since 2009”, the leader said.
The last Congress leaders to win Lok Sabha seats from the region were the late Madan Lal Sharma, who won from Jammu-Poonch, and Choudhary Lal Singh, who won from Udhampur-Doda — both in 2009.
Since then, according to the leader, no Hindu candidate has won a Lok Sabha or Assembly seat on a Congress ticket, a trend sources point to as evidence of the party's disconnect with the community. Notably, in both the 2014 and 2024 Assembly elections, not a single Hindu candidate won on a Congress ticket anywhere in the Union Territory. | | |
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