J&K BJP chief stands for one pol system

Jammu, Jan 28 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir BJP unit today reiterated its stand on Jammu and Kashmir stating it stands for one flag and one political system in every state of the country.

Earlier the state Legislative Assembly urged each and every citizen of the state to respect the state flag. ''If any one would dare to insult the state flag the government would take stern action in this regard,'' senior Minister Mangat Ram Sharma stated in the Lower House.

In a crowded press conference at the party head quarter, Jammu and Kashmir state BJP president Ashok Khajuria said, ''The BJP is of the considered view that Jammu and Kashmir does not deserve a differential treatment on the ground that it is a Muslim majority area.'' ''India is a secular state where everyone enjoys equal rights and equal privileges. Hence BJP is not for a system that entitles the people of state to exercise all right all over India, including the right to own immovable property and obtain government job any where in the country, but deprives the rest of the Indians of the similar rights in J&K,'' he said.

The BJP state chief said the time has finally come to review the stand on the temporary Article 370 of the constitution, which has not only given a special status to the state on the score of religion but also emboldened the separatists to seek separation of the state from India.

''Article 370 has not only promoted fissiparous tendencies in the state and accorded dangerous respectability to an extreme form of religious fundamentalism, but also denied the people of the state those normal civil and political rights which are available to the rest of Indians all over India,'' he said.

He said the UPA government and Congress-led coalition government in the state have singularly failed to book such anti-India elements as Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani and similar other separatists.

''The BJP can legitimately accuse the Central government of giving full support to the separatists in order to allow them to pollute the state's religions and political atmosphere and help Pakistan in a big way,'' he said.

The very fact that the likes of Geelani are openly preaching sedition against India in the presence of the Indian security forces is a clear proof that the Indian state under the Congress rule has become subversive in nature and action, Mr Khajuria said.

''I am once again challenging the state government to arrest me on this issue. I would continue to demand of abrogation of Article 370 as well as the state constitution under which the state has the right to have a separate flag'' he said.

UNI