RAJOURI: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said here today that Rajouri-Poonch region was deliberately neglected by successive Congress/NC governments in the past as a part of their appeasement policy and Kashmir-centric approach. Addressing a mammoth rally here on the occasion of of filing of nomination paper by BJP candidate Thakur Randhir Singh in the presence of the local Lok Sabha MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, Dr Jitendra Singh said, over the last half a century or so, there has not been a single occasion when the MLAs elected from this region on Congress or NC mandate did not find an important ministerial berth in State government and in spite of this, the region did not get its due, then who is responsible for this. He said, it is for the analysts to find out whether it was done deliberately because the Congress or NC MLAs elected from this region preferred to dance to the tune of their Kashmir-centric masters so that their Ministerial berths could be preserved and they could continue enjoying the loaves and fishes of office. The result of this, said Dr Jitendra Singh, was that this region suffered from basic amenities like proper road network for as long as till 2014 when Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister at the centre and an era of equitable development began. Most of the PMGSY roads and rural connectivity has taken place in the last 10 years, he said. Most strikingly, he said, the national highway being constructed in the region was also initiated and undertaken only after the Modi Government undertook. Not only this, at the social level, alleged Dr Jitendra Singh, for petty vote bank politics, the Congress and its allies denied equal rights to different sections of society. It is only the Modi government, which not only provided political reservation to Scheduled Tribes but also addressed the legitimate demands of the Gujjars and Pahadi communities living in the region, who had been reduced to second class citizens by their own elected representatives, he said. It is only today, said Dr Jitendra Singh, the benefits of Modi’s welfare schemes like Ayushman Bharat Insurance Cards, PM Awas Yojna to construct pucca houses and Ujjwala scheme to provide Gas connection to house wifes reaching every households regardless of whether the house belongs to Muslim or a Hindu or a Rajput or a Brahmin or a Schedule Tribe. Dr Jitendra Singh said, by sending a BJP elected representative from here, we would be able to send the message that this region is a part of the development journey led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and look up to him for undoing the injustice meted out in the past.
