Save Doda, Save Nation satyagraha

Protecting Hindus/nationalist
Muslims is the priority
Dialogue process can wait : Venkaiah Naidu
From Our Correspondent

On June 7 Bharatiya Janata Party launched a 9-day long Save-Doda, Save Nation Jail Bharo Andolan at Jammu. On day one of the Andolan, former BJP National President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu courted arrest near the State Civil Secretariat at Jammu, along with over 3000 satyagrahis from Kerala, Rajasthan and Akhnoor, including BJP National Vice-Presidents Shri Kailash Meghwal and Shri L. Ganeshan, National General Secretary Vinay Katiyar, J&K BJP State President Dr. Nirmal Singh, BJP Kerala State President Shridharan Pillai, former Union Minister of State, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, former Haryana Governor Babu Parmanand, 12 MPs and 23 MLAs from Rajasthan.

Addressing the satyagrahis at the time of courting arrest, Shri Venkaiah Naidu accused the governments at the Centre and in the State of being soft towards the ISI saboteurs and Pakistan-sponsored Jihadis and terrorists, who have let loose a reign of terror against the Hindus in Doda and other mountainous areas of Jammu province to force another exodus. He said the authorities, instead of crushing terrorism, are airing views that only encourage the fundamentalist and separatist forces, thus enabling them to disturb the State's already fragile socio-religious and political equilibrium. He said it is ironical that the State chief minister and his predecessor are demanding demilitarization of the State and talking of self-rule and autonomy as if Jammu and Kashmir is under some foreign rule. He regretted that "our Prime Minister is as unclear as he is helpless". He is working under pressure of the AICC Chief, Left parties, DMK and RJD, he lamented.

Reflecting on the Centre-State relations, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu said that the need of the hour is to abrogate Article 370 and reject outright all unsettling and divisive suggestions like greater autonomy and self-rule. He said it is Article 370 which is the root cause of all the State's troubles confronting the nation. He also said that formulation of uniform civil code all over the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, has become a dire necessity. He declared, "Had the BJP on its own formed the government at the Centre, it would have certainly scrapped the pernicious statute (Article 370)." He said it is strange that the people of Kashmir can settle anywhere in the country and obtain government jobs there, but the head of the Indian State, President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, has no right whatsoever to acquire immovable property anywhere in the state or settle there permanently.

Coming down heavily on the menace of terrorism, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu charged the Union and the State Government with failing to take effective steps to establish peace and tranquility. He said the army and para-military forces need to be given full powers so that they are empowered to crush militants and militancy with a heavy hand.

Referring to the ongoing dialogue process between India and Pakistan, he said BJP stands for it, but it wants the UPA government to first bring an end to the reign of terror and orgy of death and destruction and then move forward taking into consideration the nation's vital interests. He said "the dialogue can wait", but what is more important is that the Government of India take concrete measures to provide fool-proof security to the civilians in general and the Hindu minority in particular. "Violence and dialogue cannot go hand-in-hand", he declared and asked the UPA government to learn from USA and UK on what to do to face the threat of terrorism.

"The entire nation", Shri Naidu thundered, "is standing like a rock behind the Hindu minority and nationalist Muslims, who are being slaughtered every day by the dreaded terrorists". He said during the next eight days thousands of the BJP workers and cadre would throng Jammu and court arrest as a symbol of their solidarity with the victims of militancy.

He also took the Congress-led State government to task for not fulfilling any of the promises made to the people of Jammu in its election manifesto on the eve of 2002 Assembly elections. He said "discrimination against Jammu has increased manifold" and "that the people of Jammu region, cutting across religious lines, are being systematically marginalised".

He regretted the failure of the State Government to ensure a fair share of representation for the people of Jammu region in any of the spheres, including the vital service sector and developmental infrastructure.

Shri Naidu asked the governments at the Centre and the State to send a clear message across the border that Jammu and Kashmir shall remain an integral part of India and that they would not allow anyone to tinker with India's sovereignty at any cost.

Senior BJP leader lauded the role and supreme sacrifices made by the troops during the Kargil war and said that the BJP-led NDA government, unlike the Congress-led successive governments at the Centre, did not allow Pakistan to grab even an inch of the Indian territory. He asked the people not to forget that Congress alone is responsible for creating an environment that could help Pakistan to retain under its control thousands of square kilometres of India's territory. He declared that BJP would not allow the Congress and its collaborators to subvert the unanimous resolution passed by Parliament on February 2, 1994 that binds the Indian Nation to take back from Pakistan all those areas which have been under Pakistan's illegal occupation.

He declared that BJP has a definite road map and that it would continue its Save Doda-Save-Nation struggle till the time its demands, including raising of more Village Defence Committees (VDCs), provision for round-the-clock workable communication network and supply of sophisticated arms to the VDCs, are met.

Prominent among others who also addressed satyagrahis included Shri Vinay Katiyar, Dr. Nirmal Singh, Shri Shridharan Pillai, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta and Shri Ashok Khajuria.

Before courting arrest, the satyagrahis led by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu marched in a procession through Jammu's main bazaars, where people cutting across party lines, extended them a very warm welcome.

The most significant aspect was that even non-BJP persons joined the satyagrahis in hundreds to make common cause with them.