The Jammu and Kashmir Congress was a divided house ahead of the all-party team’s visit to the state, with four former party MLAs openly supporting the pro-Amarnath land agitation.
JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Congress was a divided house ahead of the all-party team’s visit to the state, with four former party MLAs openly supporting the pro-Amarnath land agitation and demanding return of forestland to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
Raman Bhalla, Yogesh Sawhney and Suman Bhagat were ministers and MLAs in the recently-dissolved Ghulam Nabi Azad government. The others who have supported the Shri Amaranth Sangharsh Samiti (SASS)-led agitation include former MP RS Chib and former MLAs Manohar Lal and Shyam Lal.
“Originally, the whole of Kashmir belonged to Dogras. Heavens will not come down if a small plot of land is given to SASB. We can’t be mute spectators when the people of Jammu are suffering. It is a mass movement,” Bhalla told DNA.
The minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed coalition government of 2002 tried to absolve Azad and blamed governor NN Vohra for the mess. “Had he (Vohra) not written to Azad that SASB does not want land, the order would not have been revoked. There is a golden chance for Vohra to rectify the mistake and transfer the land back to SASB,” he said.
“We can’t watch Jammu go up in flames. For the last 40 days, people here are suffering either because of bandh or curfew, many have died. This is a dangerous situation and the only solution is returning land to SASB,” he added.
Sawhney, however, made it clear they are not supporting SASS but the agitation for a “genuine cause”.
The Congress is struggling to come to terms with the dissension. “If they (party leaders) have said so, it is very unfortunate. We condemn SASS for fueling the crisis,” Abdul Gani Vakil, senior vice-president of J&K Congress, said.
h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net
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