NC & Cong ‘working against’ minorities in J&K: BJP

Jammu: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MLA Devender Rana on Saturday criticised National Conference (NC) for its alleged “anti-reservation” and “anti-secular” election manifesto and the Congress for supporting NC’s alleged “anti-reservation” agenda.

“The manifesto released by the NC is meant to strengthen anti-national powers. We will never allow reservations to SCs, STs, Paharis and OBCs to be scrapped as the NC has said in its manifesto. Our SC, ST, Paharis and OBC brothers have been given both political reservation and reservation in jobs. NC manifesto says they will scrap these reservations,” said Devender Rana while addressing a media conference at the BJP headquarters in Jammu.

He said that Congress has always “compromised” national interest for power in J&K and by aligning with the NC again, they are repeating the same mistakes done in the past.

“Congress has always played with the destiny of the people of J&K in their greed for power. They have now exposed their design to go against the Gujjars, scheduled castes, Paharis and the OBCs,” Rana said.

He alleged that the NC manifesto is a “separatist document” as they have promised to reverse all the central laws including political and employment rights to reserved categories.

“We will always uphold and strengthen the constitution of Bhimrao Ambedkar which has advocated one constitution, one parliament and one Prime Minister for the country,” Rana said.

He also lambasted the NC for its election manifesto promise to change the name of the Shankaracharya hill in Srinagar city to ‘Takht-e-Suleman’.

“For us, Shankaracharya Hill is a matter of faith. Congress has joined the NC in their game aimed to appease a particular community in the Kashmir Valley. The NC has promised to change the name of the Hari Parbat hill to ‘Koh-e-Maran’. I warn them not to play with our faith and identity. We shall not allow it,” Rana said.

He alleged that the Congress has always played this petty game for power and has always disrespected the people of J&K, especially those of the Jammu region.

Rana said that the reservations envisioned in the Constitution have been extended to J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 and the BJP would not allow anybody to work against the rights of the Gujjars, scheduled castes, Paharis and the OBCs in J&K.