Dogra Swabhimaan Rally convened by the former Minister and sitting BJP MlA from Basohli, lal Singh, Sunday created ripples in the corridors of power as it received massive response from the majority Dogra population in the region.
The attendance at the rally left many rival BJP leaders and Opposition parties red faced as they were not expecting such a huge response during the rally.
Chants of CBI inquiry in support of victim of Kathua rape and murder case echoed all along the 38 km long route covered by lal Singh, braving sweltering heat conditions, on foot.
Rough estimates suggested over 20,000 people converged at the venue of the rally while thousand others arrived in a procession headed by lal Singh.
Those who attended the rally also wore black ribbons as a mark of protest against the State Government as it failed to recommend CBI probe in the matter.
None from the State BJP unit or sitting legislator/minister attended the rally. Majority of them were seen attending felicitation ceremonies organised to honour newly appointed state party Chief Ravinder Raina and Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta in Jammu.
Addressing the massive gathering lal Singh reiterated his demand for holding CBI probe in the rape and murder case of 8 year old girl belonging to a nomadic community.
He also renamed Hindu Ekta Manch as Dogra Ekta Manch sending a clear signal to his political adversaries and those sitting at the helm of affairs that in the coming days he would be leading the campaign with a clear focus on restoring lost pride of the brave Dogra community. He thanked all participants with folded hands claiming their full support has resurrected a movement to restore Dogra pride in the region.
Even social media platforms were abuzz with many outstation followers closely tracking the developments in the state.
An enthusiast wrote on his twitter time line, “ Following #DograSwabhimaanRally from #london. So happy to see the fellow #Dogras be it in #India #Jammu & Kashmir or foreign #NRIs standing united and fighting for one cause. Our own self respect, our values, our culture, our land, our history. We won’t tolerate polarisation anymore”.
Even after the intervention of the highest court in the sensitive case, beleaguered lal Singh has refused to step back and is spearheading a movement to restore lost pride of Dogra community.
He claims selective media coverage and wrong presentation of facts created piquant situation for the Dogra community and also dented its image in the eyes of outsiders.
Before launching the movement he had taken a vow to set right the record books and not to tolerate desperate moves aimed at tarnishing image of the entire community to serve political agenda of certain vested interests.
Ever since lal Singh was asked to resign by the party high command to save their own image in the second week of April 2018 he was conducting road shows in support of the popular demand to hold CBI inquiry in the rape and murder case of 8 year old girl from Rasana village in Kathua.
Both lal Singh and Chandra Prakash Ganga, BJP ministers in the council of ministers of Mehbooba Mufti government, were asked to resign by the party high command to save their own image. The duo had attended a rally convened by members of Hindu Ekta Manch, spearheading a campaign, in support of accused arrested in the case on March 1. Both these senior party ministers were rushed by the state party Chief to meet agitating local population after some of them were forced to migrate from their villages to escape alleged torture by the members of the Crime Branch team.