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| BJP remembers 'martyrs' of Amarnath land agitation 'Swabhimaan Diwas' draws huge participation | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, July 23 : Keeping the political issue of 2008 Amarnath land agitation alive, the State BJP for the second consecutive year observed July 23 as 'Swabhimaan Divas" today to pay tributes to the 'martyrs' who were killed in the violence during the two month row. This year the function was organized in a big way with huge participation of people in the premises of Brahmin Sabha, Parade, Jammu. The focus of the programme was to 'remember and recall' what party leaders described as supreme sacrifices made by the martyrs during the agitation.
Even though the land agitation was spearheaded by Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti along with its scores of conglomerates, BJP played a key role in Jammu by raking it up across the entire region. Party's relentless support and motivation earned the leadership huge political gains which it harvested in following Assembly elections during the month of December. The issue enabled the party increase its tally of seats to miraculous double figure from mere one in the previous 2002 assembly elections. BJP won 11 seats from different parts of Jammu district . The party apparently doesn't want the issue to get diluted or pushed back in the political arena of the state, particularly in the wake of some resistance still coming from quarters from Kashmir based separatist and mainstream parties to various aspects related to the annual pilgrimage. This explains why the party has chosen July 23 to be observed as 'martyrs day'.
This year, the new state President Shamsher Singh Manhas, Leader of Legislators Party Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta and other senior leaders also honored the family members of these martyrs by presenting them shawls and mementos as a token of respect. The pictures of all the martyrs belonging to different districts were placed on a table bedecked with flowers and garlands.
While paying floral homage to all who laid down their precious lives during the 63 -day long agitation in Jammu Province, Shamsher Singh Manhas described them as great nationalist persons who really deserve honour as they got martyrdom for a noble cause. "The 2008 agitation brought all the people of Jammu province under one umbrella to agitate against the repeated discrimination with Jammu in all matters and at all levels.
It was the out burst and anger of Jammuites against the successive governments which had taken Jammu for granted and always concentrated governance towards development of Kashmir alone", Manhas said. He also criticized the state government of discriminating with Jammu by not keeping its promise of compensating traders, transporters, industrialists, farmers and others, who suffered losses during the agitation to the tune of 15,000 crores alleging this was so because of its Kashmir-centric approach.
Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta termed it as a historic agitation which he said sent clear message that the people of Jammu will not tolerate any discrimination and that they can achieve what they deserve. He said the people of Jammu have been consistently agitating since 1947 on different issues which were directly related to the national cause and full integration of the state with the rest of the country. "Be it Praja Parishad, Jana Sangh or present Bharatiya Janata Party, we have always stood with the nationalist people in the state and even sacrificed our great leaders while fighting against discriminatory policies and such provisions which have encouraged the anti-national elements. He said the party activists should take pledge on this day to expose all such people who have become puppets into the hands of Kashmiri leaders and compromised on the interests of Jammu for their personal benefits", Gupta said. BJP senior leaders and Office Bearers including Chander Mohan Sharma, Chander Prakash Ganga, Usha Choudhary, Ramesh Arora, Shilpi Verma, Rajesh Gupta and Keshav Dutt were prominent who paid rich tributes these martyrs.
The great martyrs to whom BJP remembered on this day included Manjit Kumar, Ramesh Kumar, Kuldeep Verma, Sunil Singh, Jugal Kishore, Sanjeev Singh Samyal, Sunny Padha, Narinder Sharma, Dr. Balwant Raj Khajuria, Deepak Kumar, Bodh Raj, Girdhari Lal and Sanjay Pandita. The party also honoured five such persons who got severe injuries and later became disabled. They are Pawan Singh, Sansar Chand, Vijay Kumar, Ravi Kumar and one Mr. Khullar.
State General Secretary Sat Sharma conducted the proceedings of this programme, which was attended by hundreds of party activists drawn from different areas of Jammu districts besides representatives from some social organizations. |
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