Kitchloo's re-induction will embolden anti-minority forces in J&K: BJP

The state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jugal Kishore Sharma, on Saturday condemned the decision of the NC-led coalition government to rehabilitate Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo who was removed from the J&K cabinet following communal riots in Kishtwar.

The party has given a call for a 48-hour bandh to protest against the decision.

Kitchloo was given a clean chit on Friday by a commission probing the riots.

"We condemn the government's decision to rehabilitate Kitchloo on the basis of a manipulated interim report. The BJP will not take this irresponsible and communally motivated act in a light vein and will reach out to the masses to mobilise the opinion against the NC-Congress government," said Sharma.

He questioned on what basis was Kitchloo given a clean chit by the one-man inquiry commission. He also questioned the recommendation that village development committees (VDCs) be reconstituted by including members of majority community.

"It was in early 1990s that VDCs were constituted by the then governor general KV Krishna Rao to ensure security of minority community and their religious places and dissuade them from migrating," said Sharma.

Leader of the BJP Legislature Party Ashok Khajuria said the decision of CM Omar Abdullah to re-induct Kitchloo as MoS (home) would not only embolden the anti-minority forces in the state, but would also give rise to a sense of insecurity among the members of minority community which may lead to mass migration.

"It will also send a negative message to the patriotic forces which are putting up in militancy-affected areas of the state," said Khajuria.

BJP's national executive member Nirmal Singh said communalising the environment in the state had been a common practice of the NC-Congress government for crass vote bank politics.

"The coalition government has completely ignored its duty to create a congenial and positive feeling among various communities in the state by inducting into the cabinet a person whose acts of omission and commission during the August 9, 2013 communal riots in Kishtwar town are too well known," said Singh.

Earlier, party activists led by Janipur Mandal president Praduman Singh held a protest outside the residence of Jammu and Kashmir high court justice RC Gandhi (retd) at Janipur, levelling charges of manipulating facts against him.

Later in the afternoon, party activists led by Sharma took out a march to the Raj Bhawan to protest against the "provocative decision" of the state government.