Amid the ruling National Conference’s announcement to stage a protest in New Delhi on the opening day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session to press for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday termed the proposed demonstration an “eyewash”.
The National Conference has maintained that there is no change in its plan to hold a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar and has urged constituents of the INDIA bloc to join the demonstration.
Reacting to the announcement, Leader of Opposition in the J&K Assembly and senior BJP leader Sunil Sharma accused the Omar Abdullah-led government of attempting to divert public attention from what he described as its poor governance record.
“It is an eyewash,” Sharma told reporters in Srinagar. “People are demanding electricity, but no serious review meetings are being held. There is a shortage of clean drinking water and rampant corruption. The government has failed to address basic issues affecting the people.”
He alleged that governance under the present administration had been marked by “zero performance and zero governance” and claimed corruption had become widespread.
“Instead of addressing public grievances, they have come up with this Jantar Mantar programme to divert attention from their failures,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Conference MP Mian Altaf on Wednesday reiterated that the party would go ahead with the protest as scheduled, describing restoration of statehood as the people’s “democratic right”.
Sharma, however, said the BJP remained committed to restoring statehood and maintained that the decision would be taken keeping in view the prevailing security situation.
Earlier, addressing a press conference to mark 12 years of the BJP-led government at the Centre, Sharma highlighted what he described as major changes witnessed in J&K under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
“Before 2014, stone-pelting, shutdowns and an atmosphere of fear were common. Today, schools, businesses and institutions function normally without disruption. The situation has changed significantly,” he said.
“There was bloodshed, violence and fear. Rahul Gandhi had once said that controlling terrorism was impossible. But the situation today is different. Young people move freely and there is no fear among the public,” Sharma said.
