Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Oct 10
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch protests across Jammu and Kashmir against the National Conference-led government, accusing it of neglecting poor and disadvantaged people, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said on Saturday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of BJP district presidents and district general secretaries, Sharma told reporters, adding that the party would take its complaints to the streets after failing to secure what it considered satisfactory responses in the Legislative Assembly.
“The government’s responsibility is to address the concerns of ordinary people, particularly the poor, but it is working in a manner that keeps it miles away from them,” Sharma said.
He said demonstrations would be organised in every district in the coming days to hold the government accountable.
Sharma also criticised opposition protests in New Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, accusing the Congress and other parties of attempting to destabilise the country.
He alleged that the mobilisation was intended to create unrest by involving young people and claimed that some forces sought political changes similar to those in Nepal and Bangladesh.
Sharma accused opposition parties of undermining public confidence in the Election Commission and said electoral defeats should not be blamed on 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 electoral roll revision, Sharma said voter lists should exclude duplicate registrations, deceased people and individuals who were no longer eligible to vote.
“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 65 million voters who had moved from one location to another, 25 million deceased voters and 10 million voters whose addresses could not be traced. The figures were presented by Sharma in support of the revision and were not independently verified in the source account.
He questioned whether people who had moved or died should remain on electoral rolls and whether a voter should be registered in more than one location.
Sharma also rejected Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s allegation that the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir had benefited the BJP, arguing instead that the National Conference had gained the most.
“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.
