Yatra cancelled In view of the sad and sudden demise of Shri Pramod Mahajan, BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh has announced the cancellation of remaining part of BHARAT SURAKSHA YATRA led by both Shri L.K. Advani and himself.

BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh started the second leg of his Bharat Suraksha Yatra on April 19, 2006 from the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Political pundits and many others were anxious to know what kind of response it would evoke in Uttar Pradesh as Shri Rajnath Singh himself hails from the State. As the Rath rolled on the dusty tracks of Uttar Pradesh it became clear that the Yatra was going to sound alarm bells for the Samajwadi Party Government headed by Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav. The massive gathering at Jaunpur not only heard the speech by Shri Singh patiently but also responded with enthusiasm. Sensing the mood, Shri Singh thundered, “The days of SP Government in power are numbered as the countdown has already begun. Only the BJP can pull the State out the current phase of despair and turmoil.” No wonder his words received a big applause from the crowd.

Wins hearts on home turf

Shri Singh’s next destination was his home district of Mirzapur. It would be apt to see he was given an unprecedented welcome at every stop, many of these unscheduled. Flowers, garlands and aarti marked his arrival in Mirzapur. It was a matter of great pleasure for Shri Singh to see his own people for the first time after he became the national President of BJP in January this year. Addressing the public meeting he became nostalgic and recollected the memories of his life in Mirzapur. “It is only BJP which gives opportunity to all its karyakartas reach the top,” he said.

The unprecedented welcome accorded to Bharat Suraksha Yatra resulted in delay and when it reached Allahabad it was well past midnight. More surprising was the fact that the delay could not dampen the spirits of enthusiastic karyakartas and people. They did not budge before listening to him. Shri Singh enlightened people about the increase in ISI activities in many districts of Uttar Pradesh including Allahabad. “Uttar Pradesh has become a new ground for terrorist activities and the attack on religious places like Ayodhya and Varanasi was an ample proof of it”, he said.

The next day Yatra covered three districts of Pratapgarh, Sultanpur and Barabanki. In Barabanki lies Haidargarh from where he was elected twice during his tenure as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. The people in Haidargarh simply adore Shri Rajnath Singh cutting across party lines. Though he reached Haidargarh very late in the evening still a sizeable gathering was still waiting patiently for him. Shri Singh did not deliver a speech there. From the dais he conducted more of an interactive session with the public than a customary speech. He enquired about the status of some developmental works initiated by him during his tenure as Chief Minister and came to know that most of those had either been shelved or were moving at a snail’s pace.

He comforted the people in Haidargarh that their days of agony would soon be over as the SP Government was drawing its last breath and no other Government in future would be able to ignore BJP in the State. The Yatra reached Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh around midnight.

In Lucknow Shri Rajnath Singh addressed a press conference and made it very clear that the BJP would not give support to Bahujan Samaj Party or any other Party to form Government. He however said, “If any party in Uttar Pradesh wants to support BJP, it was free to do so.”

He elaborated his stand later in almost all public meetings held during the day in places like Bakshi Ka Talab, Sitapur and Lakhimpur and exhorted the people to overthrow the corrupt and unpopular regime of Uttar Pradesh. In Lakhimpur he came down heavily on the policies of Congress-led UPA Government and held it responsible for the rise in terrorist activities after it repealed POTA. “ The repeal of POTA was demanded by terrorists and Pakistan. By repealing it immediately after coming to power the UPA Government has given clear indication of its soft approach towards terrorists”, said Shri Singh.

On the morning of April 22 the country was shocked by the news of an attack on senior BJP leader Shri Pramod Mahajan. BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh was visibly upset when he got the news. He left the Yatra in Shahjahanpur and rushed to Mumbai from Bareilly Airport. However the Yatra continued to proceed further under Uttar Pradesh BJP President Shri Keshri Nath Tripathi’s leadership in his absence. When the yatra rolled into Uttaranchal State BJP President Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiyari marshalled it till Shri Rajnath Singh again joined the Yatra in Kichcha.

Winds of change in Uttaranchal

Uttaranchal was carved out of Uttar Pradesh to meet the aspirations of the people when the BJP-led NDA Government came into power at the Centre. Shri Rajnath Singh was the Chief Minister of united Uttar Pradesh when the new State of Uttaranchal was created. He was given a warm reception at all the places in Uttaranchal like Haldwani, Kaladungi, Ramnagar and Kashipur. At all these places he touched the issues related to the common man’ s welfare and his security. Taking the Congress-led Governments at the Centre and the State to task, he blamed both for poor performance and showing apathy to common man. Needless to say his message went down very well among the people and also the party cadres who laboured hard to make yatra a success in Uttaranchal.

Centre and the State fail to protect Hindus in J&K : Rajnath Singh Massacre of 32 Hindus in Doda and Udhampur districts has once again proved that Jammu and Kashmir is badly bleeding and the Government of the day, both at the Centre and in the State, have failed miserably in fighting terror and terrorists. BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh rushed to visit Doda when he came to know about these brutal killings. There he met the family members of those who were killed or injured in Kulhand massacre. Later, interacting with media in Jammu Shri Singh alleged that despite bold claims of normalcy and peace by the chief minister and Centre, militancy has not been crushed in this state. He said, the members of the minorities were living under immense threat, specially in the far-flung areas of the state where even the Army and the police personnel are not available easily. ‘‘Neither the UPA government at the Centre nor the Congress-PDP Government in state have any consideration for the minorities in the state,’’ alleged the BJP president. Shri Singh also said that Article 370 had failed to serve the interests of the State. ‘‘We have time and again warned the state government about the threat of the militants to the Hindus in the far-flung areas of Doda, Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch districts but government never took it seriously despite the fact that large number of the Hindus have migrated to the safer places in these months,’’ alleged state BJP chief Dr Nirmal Singh.

The next day Bharat Suraksha Yatra covered the important cities of Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradoon in Uttranchal. The public meeting at Rishikesh needs a special mention here as thousands of people converged here from distant areas of the State to welcome Shri Rajnath Singh. Gauging the public mood he predicted a change in Government whenever the assembly elections were held in the State.

The success of the second leg of Bharat Suraksha Yatra has proved that BJP has been successful in identifying the real problems faced by the people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. Assembly elections will be held in both these States within a year and there can be no doubt that this Yatra would certainly benefit the party and its electoral fortunes in both the States.

Himchal too yearning for change

The same success story was repeated in the third leg when Bharat Suraksha Yatra received overwhelming response in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Its first indication was visible at Ice Skating Rink in Shimla where people converged from distant areas in good numbers to hear Shri Rajnath Singh. Taking a strong stand on the issue of reservation on the basis of religion, the BJP President said the party would oppose any such move, as it would lead to disintegration of the country.

He accused the Congress of creating the Hindu-Muslim divide. “The Congress which accuses the BJP of being communal is now itself playing the card of religion which even late Jawaharlal Nehru was stoutly opposed to,” he remarked.

Expressing concern over the reports of conversion, he said if voted to power the BJP would completely ban religious conversion. “All BJP-ruled states will enact law against conversion as had been done in Rajasthan,” he said.

Setting the tone of the Yatra in Shimla he reached Darlaghat from where he left for Dharamshala the next morning. On his way to Dharamshala he addressed a big rally in Bilaspur and Mandi. There he stressed upon the threat to India’s internal and external security due to wrong and lopsided policies of the Congress-led UPA Government. He said the decision to demilitarize Siachen would be a big blunder keeping the past track record of Pakistan in mind. In spite of voices of protest from Army Chief, the Government was toying with this idea without even taking the opposition and Parliament into confidence. The people in Himachal Pradesh took a serious note when Shri Singh expressed reservations on the issue of demilitarizing Siachin. This issue had great significance in this State, as it is home of thousands of soldiers and officers working in Indian armed forces. Shri Singh also blamed the Congress in almost all his addresses to public in Himachal Pradesh for communalising all the Institutions including the armed forces.

BJP President was given warm reception everywhere in Himachal Pradesh. He did not forget to thank the people of Himachal Pradesh for their overwhelming response to Yatra in Himachal Pradesh during his press conference at Dharamshala. Referring to a 17-year old resolution adopted by BJP National executive at Palampur Shri Rajnath Singh raised the issue of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya while talking to newsmen at Dharamshala and made it very clear: “If the Prime Minister could hold talks with Hurriyat leaders, why could the talks not be held on Ayodhya issue with parties concerned.” Later in the day, he addressed a massive rally at Raja Ka Talab in Nurpur after which the yatra proceeded to Jammu & Kashmir.

As the Yatra passed through Himachal, Shri Rajnath Singh was accompanied by State BJP President, Shri Suresh Bhardwaj, MP, BJP National Vice-President Shri Shanta Kumar and Leader of BJP Legislature Party and former CM, Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Terror rules, J&K bleeds

Bharat Suraksha Yatra entered into Jammu and Kashmir on April 29. Shri Singh addressed the issue of increasing terrorist activities in the State in his public meetings at Manpur, Phinther and Kishanpur. He was at best of his oratory skills in Udhampur when he made an emotional appeal to all Kashmiris to rethink over the implementation of Article 370 in the State, as it had not changed the fortunes of the majority of Kashmiris. He even suggested that the demand to scrap Article 370 should come from the Kashmiri people themselves. It was a sight to behold as thousands of Kashmiris were patiently listening to his elaborate speech in which he dealt at length on many burning issues faced by Kashmiri Awam. Not only those present at the venue were listening to him keenly but also there were thousands of others who were glued to their television sets watching him deliver his speech . It would not be too much to say that Shri Singh’s speech reached nearly hundreds of thousands of people in Udhampur.

On the second day the Yatra headed towards Jammu where Shri Rajnath Singh focussed on exposing misguided policies of the Congress and how the Left was responsible in working in tandem with the Congress to jeopardise the national interest. From Jammu the Yatra moved to Kathua. Shri Singh was again able to strike an emotional chord with the people in Kathua as he talked about spiraling prices, terrorist activities, lack of basic amenities and things which directly affected the lives of different segments of the society in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the end of the day the Yatra entered into Punjab in Gurdaspur district. In Punjab the Yatra was scheduled to start from Amritsar on May 4 but the sad demise of BJP Leader Shri Pramod Mahajan brought an abrupt end to Bharat Suraksha Yatra at Pathankot itself.

The success of the second and third leg of Bharat Suraksha Yatra has proved that BJP has been successful in identifying the real problems faced by the people in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Assembly elections will be held in Punjab and Uttaranchal within a year and there is no doubt that this Yatra would certainly benefit the party and its electoral fortunes in both the States.