‘They want terror to continue’: Union minister Jitendra Singh hits out at ‘political nexus’ in J&K

Jitendra Singh said that a few of the people who find it favourable for terrorism to continue in J&K are also a part of the political class that is contesting the local elections getting elected as MPs and MLAs "with just 10% voter turnout."

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday hit out at what he called a “nexus of vested political interest” in Jammu and Kashmir while talking to reporters about the recent terror attack at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's residence in the Union territory's Rajouri district late on Thursday. “There is a nexus of vested political interest of persons or groups patronised by powers abroad and also a few of those who have made it rich overnight,” the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Union minister Jitendra Singh  (File Photo)

Singh, who holds the minister of state (MoS) title for a number of departments including that of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said that a few of the aforementioned individuals who find it favourable for terrorism to continue in J&K are also a part of the “political class” that is contesting the local elections.

“Some of them want the terrorism to continue because they have flourished over the last three decades in this kind of mayhem,” the minister said, “…even the political class who are contesting elections and getting elected as MPs and MLAs with just 10% voter turnout.”

J&K police said on Friday that a two-year-old child was killed and six others were injured when a grenade was thrown at the residence of the BJP functionary in J&K’s Rajouri town late on Thursday.

Jasbir Singh, the BJP functionary, his parents, and three other relatives are among those who suffered shrapnel injuries in the attack, they added. The deceased was a nephew of Singh's, the police added.

This was not the first time that politicians, especially those belonging to the BJP, have been targeted in Jammu and Kashmir. The recent attack comes four days after a village head affiliated with the BJP and his wife were killed in Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley.