JAMMU: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch district-level protests across Jammu and Kashmir against the National Conference-led government, accusing it of ignoring the concerns of poor and disadvantaged sections of society.
Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said the decision was taken after a meeting with the party’s district presidents and district general secretaries, during which various public issues were discussed.
“The BJP’s responsibility in Jammu and Kashmir is that of the opposition. The government here is working in a manner that keeps it miles away from the common people, particularly the poor,” Sharma told reporters.
He said the party had raised these concerns in the Legislative Assembly but had not received a satisfactory response from the government. The BJP, he added, would now take the issues to the streets and hold the government accountable.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to these issues and difficulties. We have decided that we will take up the cause of the poor and the oppressed and fight the government on the streets,” he said, announcing protests in every district in the coming days.
Sharma alleges conspiracy to destabilise India
Reacting to protests in Delhi against the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Sharma accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of attempting to destabilise the country.
“This is a big conspiracy to destabilise India and create unrest by involving as many young people as possible,” he alleged, claiming that certain forces were seeking political changes similar to developments in Nepal and Bangladesh.
Sharma also accused the Opposition of attempting to undermine public confidence in Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission. He argued that repeated electoral defeats should not be attributed to the poll machinery.
“The party that has been losing elections continuously for the last 12 years now claims that the Chief Election Commissioner, who took office a year ago, is responsible for its defeats,” he said.
Defending the SIR exercise, Sharma maintained that electoral rolls should not contain duplicate entries, the names of deceased persons or those of otherwise ineligible voters. He said he supported the exercise in Jammu and Kashmir and stressed that electoral lists must be accurate.
“As a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, I support the SIR. We should never allow an illegal voter to vote here,” he said, referring to alleged instances of people from Bangladesh and Pakistan voting in India.
Sharma cited figures of 6.5 crore voters who had shifted residence, 2.5 crore deceased voters and one crore voters whose addresses could not be traced. He argued that electoral rolls needed to be updated to remove obsolete or duplicate entries. The figures and claims were presented by Sharma in support of the exercise and were not independently verified in the account provided.
Challenges Omar Abdullah over delimitation
Responding to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s allegation that the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir had benefited the BJP, Sharma countered that the National Conference had gained the most from the process.
“If he believes that the BJP or the Election Commission manipulated the process, the biggest moral responsibility lies with Omar Abdullah. He should leave the government,” Sharma said.
The BJP leader’s remarks come amid a broader political confrontation in Jammu and Kashmir, with the party announcing street protests over local governance issues while also weighing in on the national debate surrounding electoral rolls, the Election Commission and delimitation.
