| BJP's doublespeak on WPR issue: In Srinagar it says no, in Jammu yes | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 23: Refugees from Pakistan on Wednesday witnessed two developments, one each at Srinagar and Jammu. In Srinagar, the BJP, which is part of the ruling coalition, joined the anti-refugee forces and became a party to the official decision that the state government had no proposal to grant citizenship rights. Refugees from Pakistan were not state subjects; they were Indians, and hence, they could not be granted any citizenship right, the government told the Assembly. No BJP minister and no BJP MLA raised even a little finger when the concerned minister from the PDP made anti-refugee statement, thus establishing that the BJP was never committed to what it had been telling these hapless refugees.
The BJP had before 2014 umpteen times assured and reassured these refugees that it would grant all citizenship rights to them in case it was voted to power. Even the Prime Minister had held out such a commitment. As for the J&K BJP, it had unambiguously said in its vision document (2014) that it would grant all the citizenship rights to them, including the right to property, right to government job, right to vote in the Assembly, right to bank loan, right to education in institutions of higher learning and technical and professional institutions. But on Wednesday, the BJP got thoroughly exposed by toeing the official line.
If in Srinagar, the BJP blackened its face beyond recognition by toeing the official line, in Jammu, the BJP took a different line and that too the same day. In Jammu, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the BJP was not only committed to preserving the unity and integrity of India but also committed to addressing the refugees’ issue. "India's territorial integrity will not be compromised at any cost. Any border incursion will be equally and forcefully retaliated. The Modi government is committed towards the displaced people, including refugees," she said.
That the BJP took two contradictory stands on the same day at two different places must expose the BJP and its doublespeak on the issue. Only on June 19 (International Refugee Day), refugee leader Labha Ram Gandhi had lambasted the BJP as well as the Prime Minister and had asserted that "the BJP caused more damage to the refugee cause than any other party and that it will have to pay through its nose for its acts of betrayal".
Significantly, he lambasted the BJP and the BJP top leadership in a function at Sanskriti Bhawan, Roop Nagar, in the presence of one BJP refugee leader. The function was organized by Panun Kashmir of Dr Ajay Chrungoo and other KP leaders. It was a very well attended function and others who had spoken included Prof Hari Om, Convener of Jammu for India; YR Gupta, RSS man, an activist and a refugee from POJK. |
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