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| Saffron party striking 'intentional' shift from core issue to accomplish 'Mission 44+'? | | BJP Deviating! | | Kunal Shrivatsa
JAMMU, June 26: For Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), though time and tide both are on its side as after unprecedented LS win, it is focusing on Assembly's 'Mission 44+' , the party seems to have 'dumped' its precedent promises, resolving issues of West Pakistan and PoK refugees on the run.
Now, when the Parliamentary elections are over and BJP has accomplished the task of winning Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha segments, the saffron party at the moment, eyeing the forthcoming Assembly polls for which it has set a benchmark of 'Mission 44+' seats is 'shying' away from its manifesto's insertions .
In the process of realizing its dream of 'Mission 44+' for Assembly polls, the party 'intentionally' or 'unintentionally' it seems has decided to keep at bay for the time being one of its top most assurances of resolving the issues of West Pakistan refugees which it made during the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP is concentrating hard on galvanizing its resources to reach the goal of '44+' and some of its senior state leaders are also openly saying that their top most priority is to get absolute majority in the Assembly polls while the issues of West Pakistan refugees and PoK refugees can be considered later.
Before the onset of recently held Lok Sabha elections and during the campaigning for the two Parliamentary seats of Jammu region, the BJP promised 'moon' to West Pakistan refugees as it assured them to settle their issues once and for all if elected to power but no word of assurance on the prospective roadmap has so far came across from BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government.
However, after ascending to power, it appears that the BJP's tone and tenor has changed a bit with regard to resolving West Pakistan refugees, who had to desert their original places of residences during the partition of the country in 1947 viz a viz during Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.
The change in BJP's priorities in state politics could be gauged from the fact that the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh while interacting with the media after attending a BJP after attending BJP's Core Working Committee meeting here on Tuesday said that at present the party is solely focused on attaining 'Mission 44+' in the ensuing Assembly polls, however, the issue of refugees which is in the party manifesto will be dealt later on.
Singh said that the party was committed to resolve the issues of the refugees stranded in Jammu region for the last several decades.
He further said that the condition of the West Pakistan refugees was particularly precarious because they had been denied rights, unfairly, by successive state Governments.
Meanwhile, some of the West Pak refugees while speaking to Early Times said that the reason for BJP not paying attention to their grievances is solely that their 'vote bank' value is only for Lok Sabha polls as they have no voting right for Assembly elections.
"BJP or for that matter any other political party come with whole lot of sops when Lok Sabha polls are round the corner but they start ignoring us during Assembly polls as they don't need us because we do not posses voting right for state elections," said Puran Chand, a refugee residing in RS Pura.
The West Pakistan Refugees, who are languishing in several parts of Jammu province for the last over six decades, had extended whole hearted support to BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls in a hope that the saffron party could provide a helping hand in changing their destiny.
While the prominent refugee leader Labha Ram Gandhi, Chairman of West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee, withdrew his candidature from Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary segment in favour of BJP nominee Jugal Kishore Sharma and diverted a sizeable number of votes (around one lakh) refugee votes which helped the party to turn tables on Congress.
The major chunk of refugees' votes (about 50 thousand of them) also came handy for BJP candidate from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency Dr Jitendra Singh in emerging victorious which eventually earned him a key portfolio in Narendra Modi led BJP Government at the Centre. |
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