Congress Party Holds Signature Campaign in Jammu East To Oppose New Land Laws of J&K.
The Congress Party, on Tuesday, held a ‘Signature Campaign’ in Jammu East Constituency of Jammu district to oppose the new land laws of J&K. The program was organised by Former Minister J&K Yogesh Sawhney, General Secretary JKPCC & InCharge District President Jammu (U), and Ms Ritu Choudhary, Corporator, Ward No. 7.
Senior Congress leaders Ms Rajni Patil, Former MP and InCharge AICC Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Sudhir Sharma, Former Minister Himachal Pradesh and Secretary AICC InCharge J&K, and Ghulam Ahmad Mir, President JKPCC led the campaign and sought public signatures to oppose the new land laws which were rolled out recently by the BJP government at the Centre concerning sale and buying of land in the Union Territory of J&K.
Prominent PCC leaders Raman Bhalla, Kanta Bhan, Ravinder Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Rajnish Sharma, Arvinder Singh Micky, Vinod Sharma, Gurdashan Singh, and Gajjan Singh, Tirlok Singh Bajwa, Hussain Ali, Vaid Mahajan were present at the Signature Campaign.
Speaking at the Campaign, Smt. Rajni Patil announced that Congress would gather one crore signatures from J&K against the newly passed land laws and farm laws to showcase people’s disapproval of the government’s policies and seek their repeal. She attacked the BJP government for giving the country “black laws” which would dismantle the agricultural sector for the farmers, in the form of the farm bills as they have no mention of MSP or other protective measures for them. She also condemned the land laws of J&K which go against the promises of the government. She said that the Congress party opposes the new rule that allows anyone to buy land in J&K. “The children of J&K deserve these jobs, these lands and their rights”, she said. Further, she said that Congress also totally supports J&K’s demand for statehood which the government should give back. She elaborated that the signs and support collected through the signature campaign will help the Congress party to fight the battle against these measures and challenge the government of India to withdraw these moves.
Congress leader Sudhir Sharma called the BJP the “Bhoomi Jhapto Party” while talking about the new land laws of J&K at the campaign. He criticised the new laws for assaulting the identity, history and autonomy of the region. He said that the BJP is empowering itself by disempowering J&K, and is at the same time snatching jobs and lands from the people. He sited separatism, alienation, suppression of rights, economic slowdown, large scale unemployment and dissatisfaction among the people as the direct consequences of BJP’s action in the Union Territory in the one year that followed the revocation of statehood. The unemployed youth of J&K, unsecured and unprotected farmers and small industrialists will suffer at the cost of these laws, the Former Minister said.
JKPCC President Ghulam Ahmad Mir also highlighted the cause of the farmers of the country, the poor and the people of J&K. He said that three new farm laws were passed by the BJP in the Parliament unconstitutionally without the consent of the people and the opposition, which pave way for the looting of the destitute, and the farmers. He explained that the BJP has started a “new trend of making laws for different groups of people without asking for their approval or consent.” The farmers will and views were not taken into consideration when the bills were passed and J&K’s disapproval of the new land laws was also not considered. The Congress party opposes such violation of democratic principles by this government. It makes laws without considering the consequences for the main stakeholders or their wishes, and is only wary of it’s image and for its own political advantage, he said. Furthermore, he stated that since August 5, 2019, BJP has not taken people of J&K on board for a single decision and has alone made all decisions without knowing what’s best for us. Thus, the Congress party will continue to amplify the farmers’ and the citizens’ voice inside and outside the Parliament.
Former Minister Yogesh Sawhney also spoke at the event and heavily criticised the Government for “their gifts to J&K and the farmers of the country”. Saying that Jammu and Kashmir has suffered ardently under the BJP, there also has been an attempt to harm both the dogra and Kashmiri Identity that J&K holds harmoniously in one fold. The BJP has done more damage than repair in J&K, said Sawhney. He said that the Congress party will also continue to fight against the government until the new land laws in J&K are taken down. He further sought that the farmer’s bill be modified according to the demand of the farmers and a provision for guaranteed MSP is included for the benefit of the farmer.
Many other prominent Congress leaders also participated in the Signature Campaign including Sanjiv Panda, Dr. Ramakant Khajuria, Madan Malager, Uttam Singh, Rajesh Sharma, Vijay Singh, Chander, Shekhar Sharma, Atul Sharma, Gurmeet Singh, Anil Kumar, Ram Magotra, Anup Gupta, Ravi Kumar, Nassir Massi, Jagdish Kumar, Solman Gill, Raj Kumar, Dr. Mohd. Hussain, Madhu Kumari, Nisha, Rama Devi, Parshotam, Satish Kumar, Suresh Abrol, Pawan sharma, Vijay Malhotra, Yash kumar, H s Bhaggi, Rakesh Sharma, Manat Kumar, Gulshan Pawan Kumar Parshotam Yash Sangral, Somdutt sharma, Anil Kumar Kartar singh, Rishu Kumar, Ajay Kumar kaka Garu Ram, Naveen Bali, Ricky Dalotra, Vipin Sharma, Jatin Vashishth, Yudhvir Singh, Sunil Kumar, Vijay Bhagat, Renu Baloria, Latish Sharma and Sunil Sharma.
