KATHUA: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that the Dogra pride had been sabotaged by self-styled Dogra protagonists who were now raising this bogey after having spent lifetime eating loaves and fishes of power with Congress or National Conference, the two political parties which were responsible for the oppression, imprisonment and torture of Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, the tallest Dogra of our time and the same parties which had banished Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra ruler, to exile and forced him to live and die in Mumbai.
In a hard-hitting dig, while addressing the BJP party workers and party candidates for District Development Council election here, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the “Gupkar Gang” of Kashmir is matched by the “Guftar Gang” from here and quoted an Urdu couplet by Allama Iqbal “…. Guftar Ka Qazi Ban To Gaya, Kirdar Ka Qazi Ban Na Saka” which, when translated, referred to the man who spoke in the tone and style of a holy priest but whose conduct and character was not that of a holy priest.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, it has become a fashion for some to taunt the BJP for cancellation of Dogra Certificate and asked, when the Dogra Certificate was canceled by the Congress-PDP government, why none of the so-called Dogra Ministers in that cabinet had uttered a single word in protest, but when they found themselves thrown out of their respective parties, they suddenly remembered the Dogra Certificate which they actually need for themselves now rather than for Dogras.
He said, we shall certainly redeem the sins committed by them, but we will never let their sins stick to our forehead and we will keep reminding people of their treachery and opportunism.
About development, Dr. Jitendra Singh observed that in certain quarters and also some sections of media it has become a habit to say that they cannot see any development. Citing a sarcastic example, he said, when the same worthies drive in their vehicles across the Keediyan-Gandyal bridge to save 40 minutes of their journey through Khads, at that time they are able to see this Rs.150 crore bridge but when they sit before the TV camera they are unable to see this bridge.
To those, who say there is nothing on ground, Dr. Jitendra Singh asked, has the network of upgraded roads and bridges right from Lakhanpur to Kishtwar in his Lok Sabha Constituency been constructed in the sky, if not on the ground.
About those provoking the youth in the name of jobs, Dr. Jitendra Singh called upon the party men to go to people and tell how from time to time the Ministers in the erstwhile Congress and National Conference governments, including the so-called Dogra Ministers had taken money to make backdoor temporary job appointments and bluffed the youth to believe that they will become permanent automatically.
He said, we are finding ways to help these cheated youth and at the same time, now the interviews for jobs have been abolished so as to ensure that hereafter the job appointments will be made on the basis of written test so that nobody can take money and use unfair means by manipulating the interview marks.
If there is a single youth from a poor family who qualifies for the job through written test merit, we will stand by him and not be cowed down by protests provoked by the promoters of backdoor appointments, he added.
Exuding confidence that the DDC election will be won hands down by BJP, Dr. Jitendra Singh said we have put up candidates who are educated, young and energetic. He asked the candidates to go to the people and reason out on each and every issue. He reiterated that the BJP victory march of DDC election in J&K will begin from Lakhanpur, the place where Syama Prasad Mookerjee had courted his arrest for abolition of Article 370.
