Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday claimed the Congress, National Conference (NC) and PDP have never wanted to hold Panchayat and Block Development Council (BDC) elections in Jammu & Kashmir even though they always “hoodwinked” the people in the name of fanciful slogans like “autonomy” and “self-rule”.
Addressing a rally here, Singh lauded the announcement for conducting BDC elections next month that will give an opportunity to the people of Jammu & Kashmir to express their democratic aspirations, in much the same manner as in the rest of the country.
The Minister alleged Kashmir-centric political parties had always put a stumbling block against genuine grassroot democracy in Jammu & Kashmir.
“The hollow claims of autonomy made by the National Conference stood exposed on the day it decided to boycott the Panchayat elections and also tried to dissuade people from participating in it,” he said.
Similarly, Singh said, the self-righteous agenda of “self-rule” put across by the PDP also stood exposed, when it boycotted the Panchayat elections.
He said 40,000 sarpanchs and panchs were elected when Panchayat polls were held last year.
It is the right time for the people to ask whether it is “autonomy for the self” or “rule by the self” that these political parties have been promoting in order to continue their dynastic rule, he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to strengthen grass root democracy in Jammu & Kashmir and it was during the Governor’s rule that the Panchayat election was held and not a single incident of violence took place.