The Diplomat Desk
Jammu, TDD, Expressing dismay over the protest held in Srinagar outside the residence of J&K Chief Minister,
Mr. Omar Abdullah by various parties including those of NC, PDP, AIP and others, the JKNPP(India)
Chairman and Former Minister questioned as to why such protests were not held in 2023-24 against the
then govt which had mindlessly enhanced reservation upto 70% with indecent haste. He said that while
the new CM, who had assumed office hardly two months back and had also constituted a committee
over the subject, was being targeted, the protagonists of the reservation augmentation were never
questioned by any of the protesting groups or other organizations.
Maintaining that it was BJP govt at the centre and its proxy rule in J&K which announced to take
reservation to 70%, Mr. Singh questioned as to why such protests were not held outside the residences
of Modi and Amit Shah. He said that an insecure BJP which had lost its ground in J&K had contemplated
resurrection through appeasement and hence did the greatest injustice to the deserving candidates by
burying merit under debris of enhanced reservation. Bitten by the power bug, an insensitive BJP defied
even the persistent rulings of SC on a 50% limit on reservation and forced its own will contravening
even the fundamental principles of the constitution, asserted Singh.
And rather than insisting for a sound reservation policy leaving due place for merit, the BJP leaders
piggybacked on centre’s reservation policy to ride their journey to victory, added Singh. He said that
intoxicated with power, the self-aggrandising BJP govt indulged in mis-adventurism without realising
that its gory moves of heightened reservation could prove counterproductive in the long run. While
unemployment had never been an issue for BJP govt, its appeasement policies and its shoot and scoot
politics had caused immense damage to body politic of the erstwhile state.
Accusing the protesting parties of maliciously targeting the new govt with vicious mendacities, Mr
Singh advised them to lodge such protests outside central BJP leadership and their agents in J&K if they
were really sincere in their intentions.
He said that people were wise enough and no facade of deceptive posturing by any such leaders or
political parties could beguile the people. He said that he would volunteer to join any such protest if
held in New Delhi against those who conspired to defeat merit in J&K only for promotion of their
political prospects in the troubled UT, TDD
