National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Sunday underscored the crucial need of strengthening peace and harmony in a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir, saying political myopism could lead to polarisation on communal and regional lines.“Such a situation would be in conflict with glorious ethos of amity and brotherhood the state is known for and which has withstood test of times during most turbulent times, decades ago and in the recent past”, Rana said while paying tributes to Giani Ishwar Singh, a veteran National Conference leader, on his death anniversary at Kathua this afternoon.He said fragmenting state’s pluralistic society into bits and pieces may have short-term gains for some but ultimately such a tendency is detrimental to progress and prosperity of the forward looking people. He referred to exploitive politics pursued during the 2014 elections and said the people might have got swayed temporarily but finally realism dawned on them when their representatives betrayed the Jammu region in particular by not keeping promises and plunging it crisis like situation with feeling deprived of minimum basics like power, drinking water and rations .
“The politico-administrative situation is fluid now due to display of reactionary politics by BJP which has resulted in performance deficit in each sector”, Mr Rana said, adding that the wheels of development set in motion by National Conference led government have come to grinding halt. While the people friendly schemes and programmes have either been abandoned or are being pushed into back-burner, no new scheme of any worth has been taken up during the past 18 months. The miseries of the people, especially those residing adjoining borders, have multiplied manifold and the BJP leaders, who maintained proximity with them ahead of parliamentary and assembly elections are nowhere to be seen now. The places like Kathua have braved the major brunt and these are the areas which have totally been neglected by the BJP”, he maintained.Rana also dwelt upon the obtaining situation across the state and said disturbed conditions were hazardous for peace and progress. “The era of stability left by National Conference led government stands tormented due to inept policies of the PDP-BJP coalition”, he said and urged the two parties to have introspection as to where they are steering the State. He said the prevailing situation has marred the much awaited tourism season in the Valley and pilgrim tourism all over the state. “This is because the insensitive government has failed to appreciate the sensitivities of the state”, he added.
The Provincial President paid glorious tributes to Giani Ishwar Singh and highlighted his unflinching commitment to secularism. “As a committed National Conference activist he contributed immensely in strengthening the bonds of amity and brotherhood among people, irrespective of caste, creed and colour”, he said and added that this endeared him beyond the barriers of party politics. He said his devotion and dedication towards weaker sections of the society will always inspire younger generations. “The best tribute to Gianiji would be to work for forging unity among the people which he did, being the ardent supporter of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah”, the Provincial President said.The various other speakers also paid rich tributes to Giani Ishar Singh and offered floral homage to the departed leader.Prominent among those present on the occasion included Sagar Chand, ex-MLA, Thakur Kashmira Singh, Devender Singh Bindu, Dhian Chand, Ravinder Slathia, Ajeeet Kumar Sharma, Sham Mehta, Shakeel Ahmed, Madam Parveen Kosar, Neelam Devi, Harjeet Singh Wazir, S. Mohinder Singh, Rakesh Sharma, Harpreet Singh Sethi, Raju Singh and others. (KNS)