Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday held a closed-door meeting with leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to take stock of issues such as targeted killings of minorities and the ongoing protest by government employees seeking relocation from the Valley that have emerged as a challenge for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it prepares for assembly elections in the Union Territory.
Though no dates have been announced for the polling process in the erstwhile state, the process of electioneering has been set in motion with the completion of the delimitation exercise and drafting of the electoral rolls.
The election will be the first to be conducted in the UT after the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the UT of Ladakh in 2019 and Parliament passed the bill to read down Article 370 that gave the state its special status.
According to a person aware of the details, the BJP leadership is concerned by the targetted attacks against minorities, which has set off concern about the safety of the Hindus and the Sikhs in the Valley. Since June 2020, targetted attacks against the minorities has led to the death of 24.
While the government claims security forces have intensified action against terrorists and carried out anti-terror operations, the killings have sparked fear among the minorities-- the Kashmiri Pandits and the Hindus from the Jammu region-- who were given jobs in the Valley under the Prime Minister’s Package of 2008. These employees demand they should be moved from the Valley to the Jammu division in the wake of the threat to their lives. A section of these employees, mostly Pandits have also been protesting in Jammu for the restoration of their salaries, which have been put on hold since August, when they fled in fear following the killings of at least two Pandit employees.
{{/usCountry}}While the government claims security forces have intensified action against terrorists and carried out anti-terror operations, the killings have sparked fear among the minorities-- the Kashmiri Pandits and the Hindus from the Jammu region-- who were given jobs in the Valley under the Prime Minister’s Package of 2008. These employees demand they should be moved from the Valley to the Jammu division in the wake of the threat to their lives. A section of these employees, mostly Pandits have also been protesting in Jammu for the restoration of their salaries, which have been put on hold since August, when they fled in fear following the killings of at least two Pandit employees.
{{/usCountry}}“At the meeting the issue of training villagers as part of the village defence committees (VDCs) to help empower the residents was discussed. The issue of Hindus who have been protesting was also raised, as was the issue of about 19,000 employees hired as daily wagers by the previous state governments, who are now seeking permanent employment,”added the person cited above.
The killings in Jammu’s Rajouri earlier this month — seven people, all Hindus, died in a terror attack — have shifted attention on the need to impart arms training to residents as was being done under the VDC scheme started in the 1990s in the Jammu Division. The residents, mostly former defence personnel were in the remote districts were imparted training and provided weapons to defend themselves against terror attacks.
An organisational overhaul in the J&K unit was also discussed. BJP’s national general secretary BL Santhosh is expected to be in the UT on Wednesday for a meeting with the leaders.
“There is a possibility of a reshuffle in the organisation ahead of the polls. This is the first election after the BJP fulfilled its longstanding promise of abrogating Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and it is imperative for the party to perform well. The party’s performance will depend on its outreach in both the divisions, so efforts will be made to ensure the implementation of social welfare schemes, brining investment to the state to generate jobs and above all to ensure peace and safety for all,” said a party leader who asked not to be named.
Referring to the issue of unpaid salaries, the functionary said the government is considering the release of the withheld dues.
Monday’s meeting was attended by LG Manoj Sinha,BJP general secretary and In-charge of J&K, Tarun Chug, state unit president, Ravinder Raina and two former deputy chief ministers, Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta; Shah also chaired a review meeting to take stock of the security situation in the UT on Tuesday.